Books and Beyond with Bound: Recent Episodes

Bound Podcasts

Bookworms Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa chat with India's best contemporary writers like Manu Pillai, Lisa Ray, Avni Doshi and more. If you've always wanted to know about your favourite writers' routines, where they get their ideas from, how they deal with rejection and more, then this podcast is for you. Listen to some of India's most talented minds reveal their creative secrets!

If your family has ever felt like a soap opera you can't escape, this episode is for you.

For the finale of Season 9, Tara sits down with Karan Mahajan to discuss The Complex, a sweeping family saga set in Delhi across the 1980s and 90s. Through the rise and fall of the Chopra family, they unpack the emotional realities of marriage, the loneliness of immigration, family expectations, male inadequacy, and the uncomfortable question of how personal disappointments can evolve into political resentments.

What happens when a marriage becomes the defining factor in a woman's future? And how do family loyalties survive affairs, betrayals, and decades of silence?

Karan also talks about playing with the line between fact and fiction from the very first page, opening the novel with a supposedly "found" 100,000-word manuscript by the mysterious Mohit Chopra. Together, they explore how fictional families can help us understand real historical moments, from immigration and the Emergency's aftermath to the rise of Hindu nationalism.

Karan takes us behind the scenes of a novel that took nearly a decade to reach readers: from a 500-page draft during the early months of COVID to separating himself from the characters before editing. Finally, he shares the advice he gives his students at Brown: write in conversation with your unconscious and never lose that sense of childish wonder that made you want to tell stories in the first place.

Press play to tune out of your family drama and into the Chopra family's.

Books mentioned in this episode:

The Haunting of Hajji Hotak by Jamil Jan Kochai

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

A love story, across timelines as one woman tries to reach the other through the words she left behind.

In this episode, Tara sits down with Tarana Hussain Khan, writer and food historian, to talk about her novel The Courtesan, Her Lover and I, a book that moves between two women and their love stories separated by a century, bound together by letters that almost didn't survive.

The conversation explores how Tarana first discovered Daag’s letters to Hijab in archival material and why Hijab became such an enigma to her. Through Hijab's story, they get into the larger world of Tawaifs and the extraordinary dichotomy of women who were the most culturally significant of their time, yet whose writings were lost, romanticised, or dismissed.

Through the parallel journeys of Hijab and Rukmini, a contemporary aspiring writer, they also unpack the realities of becoming a woman writer in India today, with Tarana reflecting her own insecurities of pursuing writing full-time and her relationships in Rukmini’s world and the ways women now have more agency and opportunities than the generations before them. Tarana also opens up about her process in fiction and non-fiction, and the emotional toll of delving into these stories.

They discuss Tarana’s bold structural choice of writing Hijab's entire narrative in second person to let Rukmini speak directly to Hijab across centuries, questioning the silences left by history.

Press play to be transported to a world of poetry, music and a love story of epic proportions.

Books mentioned in this episode:

Deg to Dastarkhan by Tarana Hussain
Last of the Earth by Deepa Annapara

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

This episode contains discussions of sexual violence, human trafficking and child abuse. Please listen at your discretion.

Have you ever read a headline, felt the rage to make a difference, but didn’t know where to start?
But an 8-year-old girl acted on it and inspired millions to make a difference, no matter how smallIn this episode, Tara sits down with Sunitha Krishnan, founder of Prajwala, Asia's largest institution combating sex trafficking, and Padma Shri recipient, to discuss her memoir I Am What I Am. Over three decades, Sunitha and her team have rescued more than 32,000 survivors and prevented 18,000 children from entering the sex trade. This is the story behind all of that.

She traces her journey from a 17-year-old with no experience walking into red light areas to building one of the most sophisticated rescue and rehabilitation operations in the world. She talks about what a rescue actually looks like on the ground, speaks candidly about her own experience of gang rape at 15 and why she refused to let it become her entire identity.

From being beaten up and accused of kidnapping the very children she was rescuing, and when she had to spend 23 days in jail, the stories of her fearlessness are endless.

Tara and Sunitha ji also get into the process of writing the book. She spent 13 days in a hotel room alone with her memories, writing for 14 hours every day. She spent two hours being violently ill as her body released what her mind had been holding for decades, but she didn't leave until every last memory was on the page.

Courage can also be contagious. Press play and maybe you’ll be inspired to take that step you might’ve been putting off.

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

If you’ve ever wished for food to transport you to new places, this episode is for you!

In this episode, Tara sits down with Lavanya Lakshminarayan, international award-winning sci-fi author and game designer, to explore the world of Primus in Intergalactic Feast, a sequel to her Interstellar Megachef.

They dig into her two-book series, where food is not just sustenance, but culture, conflict, memory and resistance all at once. Lavanya talks about how it all started with a bowl of rasam made by her grandmother during a bout of dengue, and a question that wouldn't leave her alone: who decides which foods matter?

Lavanya also dives into her elaborate process of building speculative worlds rooted in Indian food history, designing alien species and futuristic systems, and writing emotionally immersive sci-fi. From flowcharts that map out all the civilisations and systems to writing 120,000 words under an international deadline, she reveals her recipe for a bestseller that’s unmistakably Indian and universally loved.

Press play and maybe sit with a bowl of your comfort food before you do, because you are in for a feast!

Books mentioned in this episode:

Interstellar Megachef & Intergalactic Feast by Lavanya Lakshminarayan
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Do you actually need a big personality online for your book to succeed? The answer might surprise you.

In this episode, Tara sits down with Naiyya Singh, Assistant General Manager of Marketing at HarperCollins India, to pull back the curtain on what it actually takes to get a book into the right hands.

They get into what a book marketing campaign really looks like and why fiction and nonfiction get treated completely differently. Naiyya tells us how plans have to adapt to news cycles and trends, and why an intimate launch of 20 people can be as significant as a packed auditorium.

Naiyya also breaks down the question of virality every author asks, as well as the other elements that go into marketing a book.

From escape-room campaigns to intimate roundtable launches, they explore the creativity, unpredictability and occasional frustration of book marketing. They also dig into the resurgence of book clubs and why the best metric for a successful book has nothing to do with first-week sales.

If you are an aspiring book marketer or an author nervous for their launch, you don’t want to skip this chapter!

Press play to get the scoop on what really sells a book and why even the best ones take time.

Books mentioned in this episode:

The complex by Karan Mahajan
Politics, Policy and Predictions: Views from the Front Row of Parliament by Derek O’Brien
Dream Count - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan
The Only City: Bombay in Eighteen Stories by Anindita Ghose
Lightning in a Shot Glass by Deepanjana Pal
Dakini by K. Hari Kumar
The Enclave by Rohit Manchanda
August 17 by S. Hareesh, translated by Jayasree Kalathil
The Complex by Karan Mahajan
Ghost Eye by Amitav Ghosh
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What do you do when the person you love wants something you're not sure you can give?

In this episode of Books & Beyond, Tara speaks with Rahul Singh, debut novelist and academic, about his book Unfolding, which follows two gay men navigating a long-term relationship where their expectations of love begin to diverge.

The conversation moves through the emotional complexity of open relationships, and how the book holds space for desire without rushing to label or judge it. They also discuss the novel’s domestic world, where much of the story unfolds inside the home, and how class and gender shape the characters’ lives and choices.

Rahul also shares the unusual journey of writing the book without a publishing contract, across multiple drafts and years of uncertainty, all while his parents still don’t know what the novel is really about.

If you’ve ever struggled to stay on the same page in love, this one will stay with you.

Books Mentioned in the Episode:

Cobalt Blue by Sachin Kundalkar
Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Are you one of those who cancel plans because you’re tired, then spend the next two hours feeling guilty about it? Let’s talk.

In the latest episode of Books & Beyond, Tara chats with Ankur Warikoo about his new book Winning People Without Losing Yourself, and what it actually looks like to keep everyone happy all the time.

Ankur talks about spending years trying to be the person everyone liked, and why that never really works out the way you think it will. They get into boundaries (especially with family), that turns into resentment when you don’t set them, and how often we end up breaking our own boundaries before anyone else does.

They also talk about the idea that the right relationships in your 20s shouldn’t be a distraction, but an enabler, what really happens when you expect someone else to make you happy, and how most conversations fall apart when you’re only trying to get your point across.

The episode touches on comparison in the age of the internet, and how easy it is to measure your life against what you see online.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing a lot for people but still feeling off about it, this one is just for you.

Books Mentioned in the Episode:

Do Epic Shit by Ankur Warikoo
Get Epic Shit Done by Ankur Warikoo
Beyond the Syllabus by Ankur Warikoo
Make Epic Money by Ankur Warikoo
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Rework by David Heinemeier Hansson and Jason Fried
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

If you've ever felt the pull of a new city and the desperate need to start over, keep listening.

In this episode, Tara sits down with the award-winning author Rahul Bhattacharya to discuss his latest novel, Railsong.

Writing about the freedom of a woman set in the 1970s, as a male author, is no small task. Rahul talks about Charu, a motherless daughter of a railway worker who flees to Bombay to build a life from scratch, on her own terms, in a country that's also figuring itself out.

Together, Rahul and Tara explore the role of research in fiction to make the audience feel like it's their story. Rahul explains what it was like to navigate this Everywoman story and how the domestic and the political are never really separate, whether it's 1974 or now.

He talks about why the computer undid his ability to go deep and how Toni Morisson’s method inspired him to write his first draft of 133,000 words by hand.

Whether you are stuck in the train or traffic, this episode will surely help you escape to another world.

Books mentioned in this episode:

The Rabbit Angstrom series by John Updike
Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India's Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence by Shrayana Bhattacharya
Pundits from Pakistan by Rahul Bhattacharya
The Sly Company of People Who Care by Rahul Bhattacharya

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

If you decided to go analogue this year but still find yourself doomscrolling at 2 a.m., then this episode is for you.

In this latest episode, Tara sits down with Ria Chopra, writer, influencer, and Youth Advisor to Google, to unpack what it really means to grow up with the internet, how it builds identity, memory, relationships and sometimes completely messes with all of it in her debut book, “Never Logged Out.”

Ria dives into the rebirth of antiquated notions of love through dating apps alongside the rise of trad wife content and femininity gurus. And then she questions the new norm for weddings and proposals, where we put on a show thanks to our ‘panopticon gaze’, trying to make it all ‘Instagram worthy.’

Ria also gets honest about what it means to build a writing career online, navigating how much of your life (and the lives of people around you) becomes content and how to stay authentic without feeling like you’re ‘selling your soul’ to the algorithm.

Finally, they touch on some trends that might shape us, including AI influencers with millions of followers, the analogue revival (trend or genuine shift?), and why extreme gender polarisation online is something we should be paying closer attention to.

Press play, and then maybe pause to check how you're actually using the internet.

Books and documentaries mentioned in this episode:

The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
Don’t Date Me, I’m Dalit by Christina Dhanraj
Algo Speak by Adam Aleksic
Inside the Manosphere by Louis Theroux (2026)

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What if the most defining moment of your career was the one you never planned?

In this episode of Books & Beyond, Tara speaks with Dr. Ashok Ganguly, former Chairman of Hindustan Unilever, former Rajya Sabha member, and author of We Are Our Future.

From failing in school to becoming a global business leader, Dr. Ganguly reflects on a life shaped as much by chance as by choice. He shares the idea that who we become is influenced long before we make conscious decisions; by our genes and our environment.

Tara and Dr. Ganguly moves through different defining chapters of his life: an accidental interview that ended up shaping his career, the decision to return to India at a time when pursuing a life abroad was a dream for many, and his years navigating leadership and nation-building during a transformative period in India’s history.

But beyond career and success, this episode is also a reflection of failure, the confidence instilled in him by his parents, the support of his wife, and the grief of losing her. It's really about how he makes sense of it all in hindsight.

Tune in, there’s a lot to take away here.

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What if we told you that Bombay food isn't as local as you think?

In this episode, Tara sits down with writer and journalist Pronoti Datta, author of In the Beginning There Was Bombay Duck, to unpack the delicious and deeply layered history of Bombay’s food.

Pronoti and Tara trace the city’s culinary journey, from the Koli fishing communities and early tiffin rooms to colonial clubs, Irani cafes, Goan bakers, Udupi restaurants, and the rise of Indo-Chinese food. Along the way, they explore how migration, colonialism, urban planning, and even real estate have shaped what ends up on your plate today.

They also get into why “Bombay cuisine” is actually a mashup of many different cultures, the surprising origins of everyday ingredients like potatoes and chillies, how Goan cooks shaped elite colonial kitchens, the disappearing food cultures you won’t easily find in restaurants and so much more!

This conversation will make you hungry. Order something before you hit play.

Books Mentioned in This Episode:

Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay's Jazz Age by Naresh Fernandes
City of gold: the biography of Bombay by Gillian Tindall

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What does it mean to feel at home? And what do you do when that feeling never quite arrives?

In the latest episode of Books & Beyond, Tara Khandelwal sits down with journalist and author Rahul Pandita to discuss his novel Our Friends in Good Houses, a story about searching for home and a sense of belonging in a world where both can feel elusive.

Drawing from decades of reporting in war zones, Rahul reflects on his journey as a journalist, the emotional weight of witnessing a conflict, and why he turned to fiction to express experiences that were perhaps too close to home. He shares stories from the field, from travelling with Maoist guerrillas in the forests of Bastar to reporting during the chaos of the Iraq war.

Rahul explains the concept of “Ungrund”, or groundlessness, which became the seed of the novel. Along the way, he reflects on the craft of writing his novels and how fiction can reveal what journalism can’t.

Tune in, and find out what “home” means to someone who is always on the move.

Books mentioned in the episode:

Murphy by Samuel Beckett

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Wait… ghosts were people once too!

In this episode of Books & Beyond, Tara Khandelwal speaks with historian and writer Eric Chopra about his book Ghosted, which explores the haunted monuments of Delhi. But this episode isn’t just about spooky stories. Eric looks at the histories behind these legends, from the Lathwale Baba believed to inhabit the arches of Feroz Shah Kotla to the mysterious second grave inside the tomb of Jamali Kamali.

Together, Tara and Eric wander through some of Delhi’s most fascinating monuments and the stories people continue to tell about them. They also talk about queer histories, forgotten royal claimants, the politics of heritage, and why people still leave letters for jinn when life’s problems feel too big.

Rather than trying to prove whether ghosts are real, Eric looks at what these stories reveal about history and how people remember it.

Press play, the ghosts of Delhi have stories to tell.

Books and TV Shows Mentioned in the Episode:

Fear Files (2012)
Goosebumps (Novel Series)
Vikram and Vetal

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What does it take to build a Michelin-starred restaurant when you arrive in New York heartbroken and broke?

In the latest episode of Books & Beyond, Tara sits down with Suvir Saran, the chef behind Devi; the first Indian restaurant in North America to receive a Michelin star, to talk about his memoir Tell My Mother I Like Boys.

But this episode isn’t just about food. From growing up in Delhi feeling “othered,” to becoming one of the world’s first openly gay chefs, to being left on a New York sidewalk by his first love with Tiffany rings still in his pocket, Suvir speaks candidly about racism, heartbreak, illness, a 20-year relationship that shaped him, and the difficult decision to return to India at 53 and begin again.

Tara and Suvir also unpack what it really took to make Indian cuisine “chic” in New York before it was trendy, why he chose not to villainise the people who hurt him, the story behind his 27-page acknowledgements (yes, 27!), and how the title came to be.

This episode looks at the messy side of building a career and a life, the risks, the reinventions, and the moments that force you to grow up fast.

If you’ve ever felt out of place or caught between two worlds, this episode will stay with you.

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What if the most powerful character in the Mahabharata was a boatwoman?

In this episode of Books & Beyond, Tara sits down with debut author Rupeen Popat to explore his novel Satyavati, a bold retelling of the Mahabharata’s origin story through the eyes of a woman history forgot. Satyavati begins as a ferrying boatwoman, but her courage and resilience transform her into the queen who steered the fate of kingdoms.

Rupeen takes us behind the scenes of his lifelong fascination with Indian epics, sharing his research process, stepping into the shoes of Satyavati, and deep dives that brought this book and the morally complex world of Hastinapur to life. From Bhishma’s unbreakable vows to Ganga’s enigmatic actions, the episode explores the conflicts, morally grey areas, and leadership lessons these timeless stories hold for readers today.

He also opens up about his publishing journey with Jaico, what makes Indian mythology different than Western, and hints at the next books in the series that will shine a light on other overlooked characters. If you’ve ever wondered what really shapes history, or simply love epic storytelling, you won’t want to miss this episode.

Books and TV shows mentioned in the episode:

Mahabharat (1988)
Game of Thrones (2011)
The Lord of the Rings (Film trilogy)
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Be honest. When was the last time you logged off because you wanted to, not because your battery died?

In this brand new episode of Books & Beyond, Tara sits down with Anurag Minus Verma, influencer, writer, and podcaster, to trace how the Indian internet went from cyber cafes and Orkut scraps to algorithms that know us better than we do.

From going down random rabbit holes and getting emotionally invested in strangers we’ve never met, to collectively losing our minds over the next big controversy, it all points to the same question: when did being online become the default setting, and what has it done to us in the process?

Talking about his book The Great Indian Brain Rot, Anurag and Tara get into the TikTok ban and the madness around it, the influence of Sushant Singh Rajput, and why influencer fame doesn’t always mean anything outside the app. He also talks about why so many creators want to shift to film or TV, and how podcasts have suddenly become the format everyone wants in on.

If your day starts and ends with a screen, and “just five minutes” never means five minutes, this episode is for you!

So press play. Then maybe, just maybe, touch some grass.

Books and Documentaries mentioned in the episode:

Never Logged Out: How the Internet Created India's Gen Z by Ria Chopra
Morality TV and Loving Jehad by Paromita Vohra (2007)
Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino
Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
Kasapa by Manohar Shyam Joshi

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Is Mumbai still a city for everyone, or just for those who can afford it?

In this episode of Books & Beyond, Tara sits down with veteran journalist and author Sidharth Bhatia to discuss his latest book, Mumbai: A Million Islands. The book is not about the history of Marine Lines or the Gateway of India, but the thing that actually builds this city... PEOPLE!

Tara and Sidharth explore the bubonic plague of 1896, the transformation of Parel’s textile mills into high-end malls, and what it’s like for 28 families to build a rooftop community, hauling groceries, furniture, and even dead bodies up by rope. They discuss displacement of both slum and middle-class communities, the stories of activist Gauri Sawant and Kanthibai of Kamathipura, and how walking across the city reveals the hidden lives and stories that often go unnoticed.

Whether you’re a lifelong Mumbaikar or a curious outsider, this episode is a love letter and a critique that will make you question what it truly means to belong in Mumbai today.

Books and Documentaries mentioned in the episode:

Bachelor Girls by Shikha Makan (2016)
Manto: Selected Short Stories by Saadat Hasan Manto
Night in Bombay by Louis Bromfield

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What if the most important love story in your life isn’t romantic at all?

In our brand new episode, journalist and author Deepanjana Pal talks about her novel, Lightning in a Shot Glass. It’s a witty, radical look at two Mumbai flatmates navigating love, life, and ambition on their own terms.

Tara and Deepanjana dive into why female friendships are often the real love stories of our lives and how having chosen family keeps us grounded. They challenge the notion of genre hierarchies while showing that love stories can be smart and fun.

Deepanjana also gets candid about the messier parts of life, from workplace politics and abuse of authority to age-gap and interfaith romance. By bringing these real-world messes into the conversation, she proves that fiction can be both joyful and deeply authentic at the same time.

If you’re looking to dive into something that's as smart and fun as it is unapologetically real, this episode is for you!

Books and TV Shows mentioned in the episode:

Younger (2015)
Four More Shots Please! (2019)
Call Me Bae (2024)
Fleabag (2016)
The Family Man (2019)
A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan
Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley
The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What happens to “us” when we’re no longer the smartest beings on the planet?

In our brand new episode, technologist and global innovation leader Akshay Chopra discusses his debut novel After Us, exploring a world transformed by SUI, a self-aware, benevolent superintelligence that questions the very definition of life and humanity.

Tara and Akshay dive deep into the fascinating (and often terrifying) intersections of science and fiction, from the "Longevity Escape Velocity" that could grant us 400-year lifespans to why humans may never truly understand an AI’s motives, and how Akshay conceived SUI not as an invention, but as a fallible, evolving being.

The conversation goes on to explore why science fiction remains largely untapped in India, despite its wealth of technologists and storytellers, and how our fear of AI may stem from humanity’s own history of driving other species to extinction. Akshay also shares his journey of publishing his novel through Jaico and his shift from a "pretentious" writing style to a simplified narrative. By stripping away the jargon, he makes the looming reality of our future impossible to ignore.
If the AI takeover keeps you up at night, this episode is just for you!

Books, Movies, and TV shows mentioned in the episode:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Black Mirror (2011)
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Her (2013)
Star Trek (2009)
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma
Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by Omar Khayyam
A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury
Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Interstellar (2014)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What does it take to actually curate a literary festival?

We’re back! Season 9 of Books & Beyond kicks off with Tara and Aishwarya spilling the tea on their latest project: curating the Literature Section for the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2026!

This episode is a deep dive into the madness of curation. Why is Aishwarya obsessed with color-coded Excel sheets? Why is Tara picking out "apples" for a festival? And how many "healthy skirmishes" does it take to build a schedule from scratch?

From the magic of reading Kafka in Marathi to the courage it takes to launch a debut novel, tune in for an exclusive peek into the heart of a mammoth arts festival!

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Would you keep writing if your agent told you "not yet" for ten straight years?

In this episode of Books & Beyond, Tara sits down with NYT bestselling author Alka Joshi to discuss her latest novel, Six Days in Bombay.

Alka reveals the incredible decade-long journey behind her debut, The Henna Artist, from a relentless agent who kept saying the book wasn’t ready, through years of tireless revisions, to the "perfect timing" that landed her in Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club.

But for Alka, the story started much earlier. She shares her personal journey of navigating prejudice as an Indian in America; an experience that once forced her to leave her heritage behind, until she finally chose to embrace it all to tell her mother’s story.

She also takes us behind the scenes of her new book; how she purposefully traveled to cities like Prague, Paris, and Florence to "live" the world of her novels before meticulously reconstructing the 1937 world portrayed in Six Days in Bombay.

Tara and Alka also dive into their shared love for historical fiction, their top book recommendations, and the real-life incredible women who inspired her most beloved characters.

Tune in now to hear firsthand about Alka Joshi’s fascinating road to publishing and her life as a storyteller!

Books Mentioned in the Episode:

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Red Azalea by Anchee Min
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Stories from Tagore
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Railsong by Rahul Bhattacharya
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

You don't need a playbook to become a leader, your instincts are your guide.

In the latest episode of Books & Beyond, Roopa Kudva, author of Leadership Beyond the Playbook, joins Tara to challenge the formulaic approach to leadership. Instead of giving you a 10-step plan, Roopa hands the steering wheel to you.

They dive into why true leadership can’t be squeezed into neat frameworks and why the real growth happens when you start looking inward. Roopa shares her own evolution, from asking for a career-changing role to her transition into becoming the CEO of Crisil.

They also explore leadership styles, authentic vs. inauthentic communication, and the science of resilience, including how to build it within yourself and across your organisation.

Whether you’re taking your first step up or navigating a major transition, this episode is an empowering reminder that you are in the driver’s seat and get to decide the leader you want to be.

Books mentioned in the episode:

Personal History by Katharine Graham

Authors mentioned in the episode:

P.G. Wodehouse
Agatha Christie

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Ever wondered what it takes to go from crunching numbers to creating worlds that millions of readers dive into?

In the latest episode of Books & Beyond, Amish Tripathi shares the ups, downs, and behind-the-scenes of his journey from the 9-to-5 grind to bestselling author. From juggling a full-time job while writing Immortals of Meluha, to being one of the few authors in India who can write full time, he spills it all.

Get a peek into his unique writing process: constant reading, letting characters “speak” to him, and rewriting until the story feels just right. He also shares insights for aspiring writers on how to navigate the journey of writing while staying true to their craft and managing the realities of the profession.

Whether you’re an aspiring author or just curious about the magic behind bestselling books, this episode is packed with insights, inspiration, and the twists and turns of Amish’s writing journey.

Tune in now and dive into the mind of one of India’s most celebrated authors!

Books mentioned in the episode:

Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki Krishnamurthy
Banbhatta Ki Atmakatha by Hazari Prasad Dwivedi
Ramayana by Valmiki
Mahabharata by Maharishi Ved Vyasa

Applications for The Bound Publishing Course 2026 are now open.

The Bound Publishing Course is a 3-month intensive course on book, magazine, and digital publishing. Through live sessions, workshops, and industry-facing projects, participants gain practical publishing skills and exposure to careers across the industry.

Cohort size: 50 seats
First round of acceptances: 15th June 2026
Applications are reviewed on a rolling bas

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Ever wished you had an extra hour each day? (Spoiler: you don’t need one!)

In this episode of Books and Beyond, Tara chats with Apekshit Khare, HR professional and author of The Time Energy Toolkit, about why the problem isn’t our 24 hours, it’s how we use our energy.

Apekshit breaks down the very real time struggles we face in India, from social expectations to nonstop notifications, and shares small, doable shifts that actually work. Think: finding your purpose, setting chill social media boundaries, and using tech without letting it hijack your day.

He also shares fun, practical tools like the “day catalog,” his go-to method for tracking where your time and energy really go. Plus, we get into his love for playing the sitar, how side passions keep him grounded, the story of getting published with Westland, and what he’s working on next.

Tune in for an episode that’s equal parts helpful and hopeful, all about feeling less burnt out and more in control of your day.

Book mentioned in the episode:

Deep Work by Cal Newport

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

How does mythology change when we look at them through women’s lives?

In this episode, Tara chats with P. Lalita Kumari, also known as Volga, one of the most influential feminist voices in Indian literature, and Purnima Rao, the translator of On the Banks of the Pampa, Volga’s retelling of Shabari’s story from the Ramayana.

Volga shares how the idea for Shabari’s story first took shape, reflecting on the many women in mythology whose voices have been silenced. She talks about nature, womanhood, and the connection she sees between the two. Purnima speaks about the process of translating Volga’s lyrical Telugu prose into English while preserving its essence.

Volga also explores her journey as a reader and poet, the challenges of writing as a feminist in the 80s, and how storytelling became her weapon. Purnima discusses her shift from tech to writing, the hurdles of setting up an independent Telugu publishing house, and the need to fill gaps in the literary ecosystem.

Together, they look ahead to their upcoming projects, and to Volga’s return to contemporary narratives.

Tune in to dive into their creative process and literary brilliance.

Books mentioned in the episode:

Yashodhara: A Novel by Volga
Swetcha by Volga
Liberation Of Sita by Volga
Na Maate Tupaki Toota (in Telugu) by Mallu Swarajyam

Painting mentioned in the episode:

The Great Departure (Mahabhinishkramana)

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What dangerous secrets lie beneath the "comforting newborn smell" of one of the most trusted companies in the world?

In this explosive episode, Pulitzer Prize-nominated NYT journalist Gardiner Harris pulls back the curtain on Johnson & Johnson's history, detailed in his book No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson.

Gardiner reveals J&J's systemic deception, from knowingly selling asbestos-contaminated baby powder for seven decades to marketing drugs as cancer cures that were actually "Miracle Grow" for tumours. He exposes J&J's hidden role in the opioid crisis and their shocking refusal to share life-saving HIV drugs with Africa, costing millions of lives.

Drawing from years of investigative reporting, Gardiner explains how corporate PR, media influence, and medical incentives allow giants like J&J to evade accountability, even with secret Grand Jury testimony as evidence. Tara and Gardiner also discuss the stories that didn't make it into the book and the mental toll of exposing the truth.

Tune in for an essential, eye-opening conversation that forces consumers to question the products of a company they love and trust.

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Can a vision board help you design your dream life?

In this episode, Pushkar Anand, author of Manifest Your Infinite Riches and founder of the Centre for Infinite Riches, discusses what it truly means to manifest the life you want, beyond material wealth.

Pushkar shares his journey from a corporate career to pursuing an MBA at Cambridge and founding the Centre for Infinite Riches. He highlights actionable steps such as the Primary Vision Tool and the JJ Method for manifesting goals, while emphasizing the importance of taking inspired action, having faith, and seeking mentorship. He also touches upon publishing his book in India through Jaico.

The conversation also explores personal growth, developing clarity in your goals, and cultivating a mindset that supports meaningful action, using real-life examples to bring these ideas to life.

Tune in to this infinitely rich conversation about aligning your subconscious visions with reality, taking inspired action, and watching them manifest in your life.

Books mentioned in this episode:

Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Bring Out the Magic in Your Mind by Al Koran
Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wiling: A Weekend Writing Retreat | 28-30 November, 2025

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

How do you rebuild your life when one moment changes everything?

In this episode, Tarini Mohan, the author of the memoir, Lifequake shared the raw and honest story of suffering a traumatic brain injury and waking up from a coma with lifelong disabilities. She details the disorienting early days of recovery, how she fought her way back to pursue her MBA at Yale, and the simple cup of coffee that reminded her where joy resides.

Tarini also discusses the incredible discipline behind writing her book, working with Mohit Parikh, her mentor through Bound, and the difference in disability support between India and America.

This is a story of survival, resilience, and why love, not just inspiration, is the primary theme of a life rebuilt.

Books mentioned in the episode:

I Am the Central Park Jogger: A Story of Hope and Possibility by Trisha Meili
Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted by Suleika Jaouad

Podcasts mentioned in the episode:

Books and Beyond with Bound
Writer’s Routine

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What happens when the ghosts you see are more reliable than the people you know?

In this episode, Daisy Rockwell, the internationally acclaimed, Booker Prize-winning translator and author, takes us inside the unique world of her latest novel, Alice Sees Ghosts, a family story where a young woman sees her grandfather’s ghost, who nudges her to unearth buried family secrets.

Daisy shares how she began translating Hindi and Urdu literature and what inspired her to write her own fiction. She shared how she weaves history and the supernatural into a story that travels across continents and how she creates characters that are anything but ordinary.

Plus, we get a look into her writing process, her upcoming projects, and how winning a major literary prize has changed her life.

Tune in to experience a deep dive into family, ghosts and the beautifully unsettling way the past can haunt the present.

Books mentioned in the episode:
1. Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree
2. Mai by Geetanjali Shree, translated by Nita Kumar
3. Taste by Daisy Rockwell
4. Heart Lamp: Selected Stories by Dr. Banu Mushtaq
5. History’s Angel by Anjum Hasan
6. Falling Walls by Upendranath Ashk, translated by Daisy Rockwell
7. A Gujarat Here, A Gujarat There by Krishna Sobti, translated by Daisy Rockwell
8. Our Friend, Art (upcoming memoir by Daisy Rockwell)

Movie mentioned in the episode:
Frozen (2013)

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What if the person your ex-husband fell for was your doppelganger?

In this episode, Sanjena Sathian takes us inside her new novel Goddess Complex, exploring one of the most personal choices a woman can make. Step into the world of Sanjana Satyananda, a woman navigating life after a challenging period in her life, grappling with themes of motherhood, fertility, divorce, and absurdly enough, a doppelganger with a cult following.

With a protagonist who almost shares her name, Sanjena reveals how much of herself she poured into the story.

She also reflects on her writing journey, her time at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, her acclaimed debut novel, and how Goddess Complex marks a shift in her storytelling.

Tune in now for this rollercoaster ride!

Books mentioned in the episode:

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Operation Shylock: A Confession by Philip Roth
The Horned Man by James Lasdun
Malory Towers (novel series) by Enid Blyton
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage
Family Planning by Karan Mahajan
All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Matthews
The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan

Movies and TV Shows mentioned in the episode:

Adaptation (2002)
Gilmore Girls (2000)
Veep (2012)

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

When carefully laid plans go up in smoke, is it fate playing its hand, or the works of a silent puppet master pulling the strings?

In this episode, engage in a candid conversation with Shikhar Goyal, an iron-and-steel entrepreneur with a creative streak that led him to write his debut novel Delhi Disco, a romantic thriller that crackles with chemistry and unease inside Delhi’s newest club, Kapital.

He opens up about the grind, the tactics that kept him motivated, the early rejections he faced, and how a pragmatic approach to pitching finally took the manuscript to publication.

The conversation moves across the plot twists and suspense along with exploring the love story, the tongue-in-cheek humor, and his process of creating characters he knows so well, even slipping in inside jokes just for kicks.

Books and Movies mentioned in the episode:

Thursday Murder Club Series by Richard Osman
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
If Tomorrow Comes by Sidney Sheldon
Bloodline by Sidney Sheldon
Club You To Death by Anuja Chauhan
Forgotten (2017)

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

The goodbye you can't miss! Michelle returns to the mic with Tara for a special, unfiltered conversation you won’t want to miss. From a sneak peek into her upcoming novel to never-before-told stories about starting Books & Beyond, this episode is part milestone, part behind-the-scenes tell-all.

They relive their very first author interview, reveal the moments that put the show on the map, and spill on their favorite guests. Plus, a candid look at how life, books, and the literary world have changed, from India to New Zealand.

If you’ve been here since the beginning, this one’s going to hit hard. If you’re new, this is where you start!

Books and Authors mentioned in this episode:

GET OUT: The Gay Man’s Guide to Coming Out and Going Out - Aniruddha Mahale
Why Men Rape - Tara Kaushal
Heavy Metal: How a Global Corporation Poisoned Kodaikanal - Ameer Shahul
The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri
Delirious - Damien Wilkins
See How They Fall - Rachel Paris
Isobar Precinct - Angelique Kasmara
Orbital - Samantha Harvey
Brooklyn - Colm Toibin
Ghachar Ghochar - Vivek Shanbhag
The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis - Amitav Ghosh
Beautiful Thing - Sonia Faleiro
Two Good Girls - Sonia Faleiro
Meow Meow - Srinath Rao
Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine - Kavitha Rao
Daughters of the Sun - Ira Mukhoty
The Secret of More: A Novel - Tejaswini Apte-Rahm
The Blue Bar (Blue Mumbai Thrillers Book 1) - Damyanti Biswas
1950s Housewife: Marriage and Homemaking in the 1950s - Sheila Hardy
The Most - Jessica Anthony

Michelle and Tara’s favorite episodes:

5.36 Vivek Shanbhag: Decoding Sakina’s Kiss, Ghachar Ghochar & Kannada Literature
2.9 Rheea Mukherjee: Exploring Unconventional Relationships and Lives Through Fiction
4.2 Amitav Ghosh: Highlighting The Reality Of Climate Change
1.12 Amrita Mahale: On Writing A Literary Love Story Set In Bombay
5.22 Chitra Divakaruni: Meet Phenomenal Indian Women Through Partition, Migration, and Mythology
4.17 Amitava Kumar: Decoding The Lives Of Writers
5.13 Damodar Mauzo: Chronicling Goan culture for over 50 years in Konkani
3.5 Sonia Faleiro: Uncovering Crime Against Women In Uttar Pradesh
5.27 Srinath Rao: Inside the Life of a Crime Reporter in Mumbai
3.13 Janaki Lenin: Bringing The Wildlife Into Every House Through Writing
4.3 Kavitha Rao: Chronicling The Lives Of India’s First Women Doctors
2.2 Ira Mukhoty: Reviving Forgotten Stories
5.24 Tejaswini Apte-Rahm: Time Travel to Bombay’s Silent Film Era
5.18 Bora Chung: Cursed Bunnies, Ghosts, and Dark Lore of South Korea

Movie mentioned in this episode:

Don’t Worry Darling

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What happens when two women find themselves in the midst of horrendous crimes?

Join us as Tara and Michelle speak to two avid thriller writers– Devashish Sardana and Nidhi Upadhyay. In this episode, Devashish discusses his book “The Girl with Broken Dreams”, a story of a feisty CBI investigator who finds herself in a quest for the truth behind a string of suicides, while battling her own demons. And Nidhi Upadhyay talks about her book “I Hear You”, a story of a woman trapped in an abusive marriage, and how she starts talking to the baby in her womb- only to find him responding!

In this exclusive series in partnership with Penguin Random House India, we will shine a spotlight on two compelling contemporary voices each month, individuals who are reshaping the landscape of Indian literature.

Tune in to hear how they started their thriller-writing journey, how they kept finding their way back despite having day jobs, and the concerning contents of a thriller writer’s search history!

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris
And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie
Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
Godaan - Munshi Premchand
Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens
Movies and TV shows mentioned in this episode:
Misery - Stephen King (Director- Rob Reiner)
Mahabharata - B.R. Chopra

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Ever wondered what it’s like to live with a disability? Or how writing can help navigate the toughest of life’s challenges?

In this episode of Books and Beyond, Michelle and Tara chat with Abhishek Anicca, author of Grammar of My Body, a creative memoir about his life with VATERS syndrome, a condition affecting multiple parts of his body. Abhishek dives into his experience of living with chronic illness and disability in India, sharing his journey of vulnerability, humor, and breaking stereotypes.

Abhishek also talks about the therapeutic power of art, especially poetry and performance, in dealing with mental health challenges and reclaiming his narrative. From the poetic nature of illness to the importance of clear, non-metaphorical communication, he gives us a deep insight into the world of writing about personal experiences.

If you’ve ever been curious about the intersection of personal storytelling, disability, and creativity, this conversation is for you! Listen in for an inspiring, thought-provoking episode.

Trigger warning: This episode discusses chronic illness, disability, and mental health struggles. Listeners are advised to exercise caution.

Books mentioned in this episode:Illness as Metaphor - Susan Sontag
Shattered: A Memoir - Hanif Kureishi

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What happens when the wounds of Partition run deeper than history books will ever reveal?

In this episode, Reenita Hora joins Tara to discuss her searing historical novel Vermilion Harvest, set against the haunting backdrop of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Through the fearless, curious eyes of protagonist Aruna, Reenita brings alive an often forgotten chapter of colonial brutality and the emotional legacy it left behind.

They talk about the silencing of trauma, mixed-race identity, interfaith love, and how historical fiction can give voice to the stories that official narratives erase. Reenita also shares her journey to being an author and the exciting ways in which the book might find new life through music, theatre, or film.

With equal parts heart and history, this episode explores the tension between legacy and liberation, and the quiet courage it takes to rewrite the script.

Books, shows, and films mentioned in this episode:

Love Story by Erich Segal
Titanic (1997)
Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Operation Mom by Reenita Hora
Sundri and Mundri's Lohri Adventure by Reenita Hora
Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin
Jallianwala bagh, 1919 by Kishwar Desai

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The Bound Publishing Course is a comprehensive, three-month-long, certified program designed to give people the skills, network, and opportunity to build a career in book, magazine, or digital publishing.

You will take part in 100 hours of live online sessions, led by over 40 experienced industry professionals. The course moves from foundational learning to specialised career tracks through live simulations, in-class exercises, and assignments. This hands-on approach is supported by career-focused guidance, such as resume workshops and interview preparation, and culminates in a Capstone Project.

You can explore more about the course here.

Apply here!

____________________________________________________

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What sets a legend apart from just another player? The answer lies in the mind.

In this episode, Tara dives deep into the psychology of peak performance with Dr. Samir Parikh and Divya Jain, authors of The Champion Within. What really makes someone a champion, not just in sport, but in life and work?

From game-day rituals and comeback stories to dealing with pressure, anticipatory anxiety, and failure, this episode is packed with stories and science behind how mental strength is built.

You’ll hear about the famous Wimbledon choke that turned into a redemption arc, what athletes do between points to reset their focus, and how a sense of fun can literally shift your performance.

Whether you're building a startup, sitting for exams, or chasing your next big win, this episode will make you rethink what it means to show up with grit and joy.

_____________________________________________________________________________

The Bound Publishing Course is a comprehensive, three-month-long, certified program designed to give people the skills, network, and opportunity to build a career in book, magazine, or digital publishing.

You will take part in 100 hours of live online sessions, led by over 40 experienced industry professionals. The course moves from foundational learning to specialised career tracks through live simulations, in-class exercises, and assignments. This hands-on approach is supported by career-focused guidance, such as resume workshops and interview preparation, and culminates in a Capstone Project.

You can explore more about the course here.

Apply here!

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

A pepper spray in your bag is smart, but knowing your legal rights as a female citizen of India might be what truly saves your case.

In this episode of Books & Beyond, lawyer and Pink Legal founder Manasi Chaudhari unpacks her debut book Legally Yours, a witty, no-nonsense guide that explains women’s legal rights in India through pop culture, quizzes, and relatable scenarios. From decoding consent in Kabir Singh to tips for protecting yourself in a live-in relationship, Manasi shares the why and how behind creating a book that feels like your friend with a law degree. They also get into the realities of the justice system, how knowledge can be your most powerful defence, and what makes laws work—or fail—in real life.

If you’ve ever rolled your eyes at a stalking-turned-love-story in a Bollywood film, felt confused about filing an FIR, or just want to know what your rights really are (without Googling legalese), this episode will leave you feeling more informed, more aware, and way more equipped to speak up.

_________________________________________________________________________

The Bound Publishing Course is a comprehensive, three-month-long, certified program designed to give people the skills, network, and opportunity to build a career in book, magazine, or digital publishing.

You will take part in 100 hours of live online sessions, led by over 40 experienced industry professionals. The course moves from foundational learning to specialized career tracks through live simulations, in-class exercises, and assignments. This hands-on approach is supported by career-focused guidance, such as resume workshops and interview preparation, and culminates in a Capstone Project.

You can explore more about the course here.

Apply here!

_________________________________________________________________________

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What if the key to environmental action isn’t outrage, but observation? And what if the real climate crisis is a crisis of attention?

In this powerful conversation, nature writer and activist Yuvan Aves talks about his lyrical and politically urgent book Intertidal. Set along Chennai’s disappearing coasts and wetlands, the book prompts readers to notice, remember, and reconnect with the living world around them.

Yuvan shares how he teaches children to fall in love with their local ecologies by example rather than instruction and how Indian nature writing cannot be separated from caste, class, and climate politics.

This episode reminds us that nature is not a distant wilderness but something alive in our cities, streets, and schools, and to simply pay attention.

Books, shows, and films mentioned in this episode:

Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane
Tiger Lessons by Sannapureddy Venkatarami Reddy
Marginlands by Arati Kumar-Rao

_________________________________________________________________________

The Bound Publishing Course is a comprehensive, three-month-long, certified program designed to give people the skills, network, and opportunity to build a career in book, magazine, or digital publishing.

You will take part in 100 hours of live online sessions, led by over 40 experienced industry professionals. The course moves from foundational learning to specialised career tracks through live simulations, in-class exercises, and assignments. This hands-on approach is supported by career-focused guidance, such as resume workshops and interview preparation, and culminates in a Capstone Project.

You can explore more about the course here.

Apply here!

_________________________________________________________________________

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What happens when a celebrated film journalist turns the camera inward?

In this moving episode, veteran critic and author Bhawana Somaaya unpacks her memoir Farewell Karachi. Known for her decades-long career documenting Bollywood’s biggest stars like Hema Malini and Amitabh Bachchan, Bhawana shares the deeply personal stories behind her family’s displacement from Karachi to Mumbai during Partition.

She recounts everything from her mother’s hilarious one-liners about working as a young journalist in the 1970s to the emotional weight of her father’s solitary journey during Partition and the legacy of a lost home. The conversation flows through intimate anecdotes, candid reflections, and the subtle power of memories that shape who we become.

Bhawana’s honest reflections offer a masterclass in sensitivity and storytelling. Her journey shows that emotional intelligence isn’t just a trait—it’s a lens, a compass, and sometimes, the story itself.

Books, shows, and films mentioned in this episode:

Because He Is by Meghna Gulzar
Darlingji: The True Love Story of Nargis and Sunil Dutt by Kishwar Desai
Parveen Babi by Karishma Upadhyay
A Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Pakeezah
Garm Hava
Navrang
Kaun Banega Crorepati

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What if one secret could shatter everything you thought you knew about your family?

In this episode, Bhavika Govil dives into her haunting, lyrical novel Hot Water, a coming-of-age story about the silences that pull families apart.

Bhavika talks about the novel’s striking water motif and the emotional and craft challenges of writing Ashu, a 14-year-old boy and Meera, a 9-year-old girl, and trying to make them feel both real and raw.

This episode takes a deep dive into understanding family dramas better, and how writing about what’s left unsaid is often more powerful than spelling things out. It’s a sharp, intimate, and deeply thoughtful episode on the stories we carry long after they’re over.

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Tried a fad diet and a get-rich scheme, but failed to do both? Let's talk about what actually works.

Ankush Datar, the author of The Health and Wealth Paradox, breaks down the complexities of health and financial planning by getting back to the core principles. His unique approach explains how managing your health and wealth isn’t so different after all. In this episode, Tara Khandelwal and Ankush explore how first principles thinking, mental barriers, and everyday habits shape our ability to stay consistent and make smarter decisions in both areas.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed with the amount of information available about managing your health and wealth, this conversation offers fresh insights and practical tips to simplify the process. Ankush’s approach will help you understand that it’s just not that complicated once you’ve gotten your basics set.

Books, shows, and films mentioned in this episode:

Ankush’s favourite authors: Morgan Housel & James Clear
Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke
Stop Reading the News by Rolf Dobelli
The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli
Same as Ever by Morgan Housel
Dollars and Sense by Dr. Dan Ariely
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
Outlive by Bill Gifford and Peter Attia
Atomic Habits by James Clear

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Lost in Translation? Or Found in the Process?
In this episode, we talk to Gowri Ramnarayan and Kamalakar Bhat, two translators dedicated to bringing Tamil and Kannada texts to life in English.

Gowri shares the complex challenges of translating her grandfather’s historical novel, Ponniyin Selvan, from seamlessly blending poetry into prose to interpreting the layered meanings of cultural expressions. Kamalakar opens up about his translation of Kirtinath Kurtkoti's essays, Courtesy of Criticism, and how the process often involves reconstructing missing historical context and striking a balance between accuracy and accessibility. Together, they explore how translation is not just linguistic work but a journey into the heart of a text.

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to translate a story without losing its soul, this episode is for you. Expect insights, behind-the-scenes secrets, and a fresh perspective on the art of bringing Indian literature to the world.

Books, shows and films mentioned in this episode:

Yugadharma Haagu Sahitya Darshana (Kannada) by Kirtinath Kurtkoti
Sakina's Kiss by Vivek Shanbhag
Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag
Mithun Number Two and Other Mumbai Stories by Jayant Kaikini
Tejo Tungabhadra by Vasudhendra
Author recommendations:
- Salma
- Imaya Kumar Jagannathan
- Prapanchan
- Mogalli Ganesh
- Abdul Rasheed
- H. S. Shivaprakash

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What happens when the love of family feels more like a battlefield?

In her debut novel Famous Last Questions, Sanjana Ramachandran explores the messy, painful, and sometimes beautiful struggle of growing up caught between parental expectations and the search for your true self. With sharp honesty and warmth, she dives into themes of rebellion, identity, and the healing power of mindfulness.

Join Tara and Sanjana as they trace her journey—from getting kicked out of BITS Pilani to writing the viral “Sanjana Effect” article that sparked a conversation about cultural pressures, and finally to publishing her debut novel. It’s a story of resilience, courage, and finding your own voice against the odds.

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Are the wrong people making the biggest decisions at your company?

Tara and Michelle talk to Jennifer Sundberg—co-founder of Board Intelligence and co-author of Collective Intelligence—about why most leadership teams are flying blind. They dive into how poorly framed questions and bloated reports sabotage decision-making, why writing is thinking, and how to fix broken systems from the inside out. With examples ranging from NASA to FTSE boardrooms, this episode is a masterclass on designing cultures where the smartest ideas, not the loudest voices, win.

In this exciting partnership series with Jaico Publishing House, we are featuring fascinating new authors and writers who captivate the audience and bring forth a revolutionary perspective to Indian literature.

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Should we boycott problematic authors—or just read them with guilt? Tara and Michelle dive into the messy politics of author scandals, from cancel culture to complicity. Plus, what happens when AI writes a book? Would you read it? Should it even exist?

Tune in for a no-holds-barred chat on the ethics of art, the limits of accountability, and how readers can show up for real authors in a shifting industry. They also spill on their own reading dilemmas and the murky line between loving the work and questioning the creator.

Books mentioned:

Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh
Dalit Kitchen of Marathwada by Shahu Patole
Books by Janice Pariat
The Twits by Roald Dahl
Jasoda by Kiran Nagarkar
Fault In Our Stars by John Green
Neopolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante
Harry Potter Series By J.K. Rowling

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What do a privileged student with a saviour complex and an ambitious outsider in Bollywood have in common?

Debut authors Nayantara Alva and Puneet Sikka take us into two very different Indias—one set in a liberal arts college, the other on a chaotic film set.

Tara and Michelle chat with the authors about their writing processes, the themes that shaped their coming-of-age novels, and how they brought their lived experiences to the page. Nayantara unpacks creative burnout, messiness in friendships, and reclaiming self-worth. Puneet explores reinvention, reality TV, and what it means to be seen.

If you’re curious about how authors build layered, complex characters or want a peek behind the scenes of the Indian creative industry, this episode’s for you.

Books, shows and films mentioned in this episode:

Calling Sehmat - Harinder S. Sikka
Kimino Nawa
Women Who Run with the Wolves - Clarissa Pinkola Estés
The Artist's Way - Julia Cameron
Fleabag - Phoebe Waller-Bridge
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo
Body Kintsugi- Senka Marić

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Tara talks to journalist and debut author Atharva Pandit, whose novel Hurda is inspired by a real-life case that briefly made headlines in 2013, and then vanished.

What begins as a mystery about three missing girls from a village in Maharashtra becomes a statement on what gets remembered and what gets buried.

Atharva shares how a two-page newspaper feature became the seed for a decade-long creative journey. He discusses the blurry boundaries between fact and fiction, and how he built an entire village of voices, each with their own secrets and silences. The episode also delves into the quiet power of clothing, especially that green top that became a symbol of much more. Tara and Atharva explore why rural women’s lives so often go unheard, and how fiction can offer them space, dignity, and depth.

Upcoming Bound Retreats
Immersive, one-of-a-kind literary experiences that take writers into the heart of India’s most breathtaking landscapes.

Wanderlust Travel Writing Retreat in Chetinad | 16 - 21 September
Whimsy Fiction Writing Retreat in Coonoor | 8 - 12 October

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/

Apply to all retreats: http://bit.ly/44TzYpY

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Ever wondered how translators breathe life into stories across languages? Or what it takes to bring the essence of one culture into another?

In this episode of Books and Beyond, Tara and Michelle unravel the secrets of literary translation with two of India’s finest: Arunava Sinha, who has translated over 80 masterpieces, and Ministhy S., known for her thought-provoking translations of powerful and diverse narratives.

From the untold struggles of salt farmers in Gujarat to a coffin maker’s poignant tale, Arunava and Ministhy reveal how they navigate the challenges of capturing a story’s soul while juggling cultural nuances and creative integrity. They also dive into the highs and lows of being a translator in India—breaking stereotypes, fighting for recognition, and dealing with the constant questions.

In this exclusive series in partnership with Penguin Random House India, we spotlight two renowned translators, Arunava Sinha and Ministhy S., as they unravel the art of translation, the cultural bridges it builds, and the challenges of bringing Indian stories to a global audience.

Listen in as they reveal the joys, challenges, and transformative power of bringing stories to life across languages and cultures.

Books mentioned in this episode:Pratham Pratishruti - Ashapurna Devi
Bakul Katha - Ashapurna Devi
Enid Blyton
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Gregory Rabassa
Meerasadhu - K.R Meera
Nandakumar K.
Fathima E.V
Anthea Bell
Anton Hur
Hospital Poems of Mathematics and Madness - Binoy Majumdar
Imaan - Manoranjan Byapari

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Curious about how contemporary fiction explores women's sexuality, family, and the messy transition into adulthood?

In this episode of Books and Beyond, Tara and Michelle sit down with Anisha Lalvani to discuss her debut novel, Girls Who Stray, a coming-of-age story set in Noida. The novel follows A, a 23-year-old literature graduate, as she navigates love, family, and a tangle of crime and self-discovery.

Anisha shares how her background in publishing and television influenced her storytelling, as well as the seven-year journey of writing and refining her book. She shares how the idea of her protagonist becoming an escort came to her suddenly, inspired by her belief in women owning their sexuality. She opens up about the challenges of portraying complex, relatable characters and how the title of the novel evolved during the publishing process.

Listen in as Anisha dives into the creative process, the themes of family and self-discovery, and how she crafted a story that resonates with today’s generation.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:A Bad Character - Deepti Kapoor
Age of Vice - Deepti Kapoor
Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
Frances Ha - Film by Noam Baumbach
CNTRL - Film by Vikramaditya Motwane
Girl Interrupted - Film by James Mangold

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

How do teenage years shape the way we view the world around us?

In this episode of Books and Beyond, Michelle and Tara chat with 20-year-old author and philosophy blogger Saania Saxena about her debut book, Teenage Chronicles. Saania, who started her blog at just 12 to cope with school pressures, created a book that features five relatable teenage characters navigating emotions like jealousy, anger, and the complexities of friendships.

Saania shares how her book combines scientific insights with personal anecdotes, helping readers better understand and manage their emotions. Each character is inspired by people Saania has met, and their stories aim to guide readers towards greater self-awareness. From her early blog readership of school friends to reaching a global audience, Saania talks about how she published the first version of this book at just 16 with a global publisher and her future aspirations in writing.

In this exciting partnership series with Jaico Publishing House, we are featuring fascinating new authors every month, writers that captivate the audience and bring forth a revolutionary perspective to Indian literature.

Tune in to hear how Teenage Chronicles mirrors the joys, challenges, and complexity of adolescence, making it a must-read for anyone seeking connection and self-awareness.

Books Mentioned in this episode:Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom
Lean In - Sheryl Sandberg
Sophie’s World - Jostien Gaarder

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What do a right-wing YouTube creator and a small-town salesgirl have in common?

In this episode of Books and Beyond, Michelle and Tara sit down with Prayaag Akbar, author of Mother India, to explore the intersections of identity, ambition, and the rapid transformations of urban India. Through the lives of Mayank, a right-wing YouTuber, and Nisha, a small-town salesgirl navigating Delhi’s class-driven chaos, Prayaag examines the human cost of our obsession with relevance and validation.

Prayaag shares the creative journey behind his novel, from an abandoned historical fiction project to crafting this sharp and modern tale. He dives into the complexities of balancing flawed, relatable characters with a fast-moving narrative, revealing how Delhi itself became a character in the book. With conversations about social media’s real-world impact, the power of motivation in storytelling, and the soul of a city in flux, this episode is packed with insights for readers and writers alike.

If you’ve ever wondered what makes a novel both timely and timeless, or how fiction can capture the pulse of a city, this episode is for you.

Books Mentioned in this episode:Leila - Prayaag Akbar
A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan
You Envy the Coutinhos and Other Migrants in the Middle East - Michelle D’Costa
Temporary People - Deepak Unnikishan
Deepti Kapoor
Shivani Sibal
Anjum Hasan

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Curious about how fiction unravels the complexities of identity and migration?

In this episode of Books and Beyond, Michelle and Tara sit down with Ammar Kalia, author of A Person is a Prayer, and Ram Murali, author of Death in the Air, to discuss their remarkable debut novels.

Ammar Kalia explores the ripple effects of migration on family dynamics through the lens of Bedi’s journey from Kenya to India. Ram Murali’s Death in the Air takes readers to an Indian Himalayan spa, combining Agatha Christie-style intrigue with contemporary questions about justice and identity.

Both authors share how their diverse personal backgrounds shaped their storytelling, offering a window into the immigrant experience, family relationships, and the spiritual undertones of their narratives.

In this exclusive series in partnership with Penguin Random House India, we highlight two emerging voices in fiction, delving into their creative processes, the role of memory in shaping stories, and the layered themes that make their novels so compelling.

Tune in as Ammar and Ram share their thoughts on navigating the intersection of migration and identity, the challenges of balancing mystery with meaning, and the stories that inspired their unforgettable characters.

Books Mentioned in this episode:The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri
The Believers - Zoë Heller
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong
Whose Body? - Dorothy L. Sayers

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

As India rises on the world stage, what stories and narratives are we ready to share?

In this episode of Books and Beyond, Tara and Michelle speak with author Sriram Devtha the author of Amrut: The Great Churn. Diving into the heart of Indian brands that have received global recognition with Amrut Distilleries, a brand pushing boundaries in the whiskey market. We explore the journey from its early days to becoming a major soft power player, reaching enthusiasts in Sweden.

They discuss the crucial moments in Amrut’s rise, like the fusion story and how pivotal figures shaped the brand, from finance head Lakshmanan, who’s been with the company for 50 years, to the distillery’s unique culture, where trust in people is key.

Sriram reflects on what it takes to build an enduring brand, sharing his approach to narrative nonfiction. He seamlessly weaves personal stories of Amrut’s founding family, their challenges, and triumphs, creating stories that resonate both locally and internationally.

Listen in as Sriram reveals how Amrut, a small Indian whiskey brand, took the world by storm. He shares personal insights into the Amrut family legacy and explores how Indian brands can become global icons.

Books mentioned in this episode:Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese
Covenant of Water - Abraham Verghese
Big Billion Startup - Mihir Dalal

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Curious about India’s unique relationship with the environment and the often-overlooked heroes who shaped it?

In this episode of Books and Beyond, Michelle and Tara welcome celebrated historian Dr. Ramachandra Guha, and talk about his recent book Speaking with Nature. Known for his extensive work on Gandhi, Dr. Guha now uncovers the lives of Indian environmentalists who, since the 19th century, championed sustainable ways of living in harmony with nature. From literary icon Rabindranath Tagore to the indomitable Meera Ben, each figure in Dr. Guha’s latest book highlights a different angle of ‘livelihood environmentalism’, an approach where nature conservation goes hand in hand with social justice.

Dr. Guha shares his insights on how scholars, editors, librarians, and archivists play crucial roles, describing how a network of trusted colleagues, editors like Rukun Advani, and even archivists shape each book. He also sheds light on the irreplaceable value of archives, libraries, and the often uncelebrated archivists who preserve history. From finding serendipitous treasures to uncovering forgotten letters and manuscripts, archival research is, as he puts it, “an addiction,” offering writers a tactile connection to the past.

Tune in as Dr. Guha takes us through forests, rivers, and the lives of those who spoke with nature, revealing the unique and timeless spirit of India's environmental ethos.

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Ever been captivated by the supernatural or curious about the secrets behind spirit worship?

In this episode of Books and Beyond, Michelle sits down with Hari Kumar, author of Daiva, who takes us into the fascinating world of spirit worship practiced in Karnataka and northern Kerala’s Tulu Nadu region. Hari dives into the intense practice of spirit possession, where individuals become vessels for powerful spirits like Panjurli and Bobbarya.

He also shares how a surprising oracle prediction led him on this journey of exploration, uncovering unique perspectives on these traditions through interviews with kola performers, astrologers, and local residents. Hari also discusses the cultural and symbolic importance of the vibrant kola get-up and offers a peek into his upcoming book on the serpent, revealing a lifelong fascination with the paranormal.

Listen in as Hari dives into the rich, mystical traditions of Tulu Nadu, shares personal revelations from his journey, and uncovers the complex world of spirit worship and possession in Daiva.

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Curious about how fiction explores the intersection of identity, memory, and love?

In this episode of Books and Beyond, Michelle and Tara sit down with Dharini Bhaskar author of ‘Like Being Alive Twice’ and Rupleena Bose author of ‘Summer of Then’ to talk about the art of writing female coming-of-age stories. They dive into the challenges of creating relatable female characters and discuss how their personal experiences shape their storytelling.

Dharini and Rupleena open up about their creative process, the intersection of identity and literature, and the power of poetry and resilience. From navigating the complexities of inter-religious dynamics in romance to portraying the impact of the pandemic on human interaction, they offer a glimpse into their unique perspectives.

In this exclusive series in partnership with Penguin Random House India, we highlight two voices who are transforming the narrative around inter-religious romance and female coming-of-age stories in Indian fiction.

Listen in as Dharini and Rupleena share their thoughts on the creative process, the challenges of portraying identity in fiction, and the deeper meaning behind their characters' journeys.

Books mentioned in this episode:Leila - Prayaag Akbar
Mother India - Prayaag Akbar
My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh
August Rush - Deborah Levy
Real Estate: A Living Autobiography - Deborah Levy
How to Kill Your Family - Bella Mackie
The Illuminated - Anindita Ghose
Burnt Sugar - Avni Doshi
Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf

Authors mentioned:
Linda Greg
Jeffery Carson
Anne Carson

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Ever wonder how a destination can inspire an entire mystery novel?

In this episode of Books and Beyond, Tara and Michelle chat with Manjiri Prabhu, India’s first female mystery writer to break into the international scene. She talks about her latest novel, The Mystery of the Portuguese Hearts, set in the heart of Portugal’s wine country. Manjiri reveals how investigator Re unravels the truth behind a murder and the mysterious ‘lenços’ (love handkerchiefs).

Minjiri shares her deep dive into research, her passion for authenticity, and how the destination itself sparks the thrill of her stories. Get ready to explore the craftiness behind her mysteries, the emotional depth of her characters, and the secrets behind crafting a destination thriller.

In this exciting partnership series with Jaico Publishing House, we are featuring fascinating new authors every month, writers that captivate the audience and bring forth a revolutionary perspective to Indian literature.

Want to know how Manjiri weaves history, culture, and mystery into one thrilling narrative? Tune in for a fascinating look at her creative process and the inspiration behind her international success!

Books mentioned in this episode:Legend of The Snow Queen - Manjiri Prabhu
Voice of the Runes - Manjiri Prabhu
The Meditations of a Dog - Franz Kafka

Authors mentioned in this episode:Agatha Christie
Daphne du Maurier
Wilkie Collins
Enid Blyton

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Ever wondered what it’s like to live with a disability? Or how writing can help navigate the toughest of life’s challenges?

In this episode of Books and Beyond, Michelle and Tara chat with Abhishek Anicca, author of Grammar of My Body, a creative memoir about his life with VATERS syndrome, a condition affecting multiple parts of his body. Abhishek dives into his experience of living with chronic illness and disability in India, sharing his journey of vulnerability, humor, and breaking stereotypes.

Abhishek also talks about the therapeutic power of art, especially poetry and performance, in dealing with mental health challenges and reclaiming his narrative. From the poetic nature of illness to the importance of clear, non-metaphorical communication, he gives us a deep insight into the world of writing about personal experiences.

If you’ve ever been curious about the intersection of personal storytelling, disability, and creativity, this conversation is for you! Listen in for an inspiring, thought-provoking episode.

Trigger warning: This episode discusses chronic illness, disability, and mental health struggles. Listeners are advised to exercise caution.

Books mentioned in this episode:Illness as Metaphor - Susan Sontag
Shattered: A Memoir - Hanif Kureishi

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Ever wonder how historical mysteries unfold in fiction?

In this episode of Books and Beyond Tara and Michelle chat with Priyanka Pathak Narain, author of The Somnath Cipher. Her novel is packed with ancient puzzles, cryptic messages, and real historical events like Mahmud of Ghazni's invasion. She shares her experiences as an investigative journalist, covering stories like the Mark Foley scandal, and her transition to reporting on religion in India. Sharing insights from her career, she discusses her interest in religion and mythology and her work on the business of religion. Want to know how she blends history with suspense, or what’s next for this story on screen?

Tune in for fascinating insights into her creative process, and the intricate research behind this historical thriller!

Books Mentioned in this episode:1. Woebegones Warehouse of Words - Payal Kapadia
2. Godman to Tycoon: The Untold Story of Baba Ramdev - Priyanka Pathak Narain 3. The Famous Five - Enid Blyton
4. Canon of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
5. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
6. Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
7. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
8. Percy Jackson - Rick Riordan

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

In this episode of Books & Beyond Tara and Michelle dive into the thrilling world of ‘The Descendants’ by Laksh Maheshwari and Ashish Kavi. The novel begins with a meteor landing where Jay and his mentor Kaka find a fascinating element in the orb. Their quest leads to explosive family secrets with roots stretching all the way back to the Mahabharata war.

First in the trilogy, the novel exquisitely blends elements of mythology, family drama and science fiction. Tara and Michelle chat with the authors about their creative process, the art of visual storytelling, and the exciting possibilities of movie adaptations.

In this exclusive series in partnership with Penguin Random House India, we shine a spotlight on two trailblazing writers who are redefining the landscape of Indian science fiction.

Tune in to find out who inspired them, their co-writing experience, and how they developed the fictional universe.

Movies mentioned:

Dont Look Up
Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Ever dreamed of opening your own restaurant? Wondering what it takes to turn that dream into reality?

In this episode of Books and Beyond, Michelle and Tara chat with Ravi Wazir, author of Beyond the Menu who has over 30 years of experience in hospitality. Ravi spills the secrets of running a successful restaurant – from understanding what customers want to balancing creativity and business. He shares the highs and lows of managing staff, budgets, customer expectations, and how the COVID-19 pandemic changed the game.

In this exciting partnership series with Jaico Publishing House, we are featuring fascinating new authors every month, writers that captivate the audience and bring forth a revolutionary perspective to Indian literature.

Listen in as Ravi talks about the importance of food safety, ethics, and how technology is transforming the dining experience. If you’ve ever wanted a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to thrive in the restaurant world, this episode is for you.

Books mentioned in this episode:Diamonds For Breakfast: Cool stories from Bombay’s hottest kitchen
McDonald's: Behind the Arches by John F Love
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
Sweets and Bitters by Satish Arora
Degh to Dastarkhwan: Qissas and Recipes from Rampur by Tarana Husain Khan

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

How are mourning practices in India varied? Are mourning rituals gendered?

In this episode of Books and Beyond, Tara speaks with Dr. Minakshi Dewan about her book The Final Farewell: Understanding the Last Rites and Rituals of India’s Major Faiths. After her father’s death, Dr. Minakshi chose to personally perform the Antim Sanskar, a ritual traditionally reserved for male family members. This experience, combined with her period of grieving, led her to explore the funeral rites traditions in India.

Tara and Dr. Minakshi delve into the customs surrounding funeral rites in India, examining the varied religious rituals, the gender roles involved in mourning, and the environmental impacts of these practices.

Tune in and learn more about the $2.5 billion Death Care Industry in India, the role of professional mourners, the portrayal of grieving women in Bollywood, and the evolving landscape of funeral services in the country.

Books mentioned in this episode:Fire on the Ganges : Life Among the Dead in Banaras - Radhika Iyengar
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End - Atul Gawande
Samskara - U. R. Ananthamurthy
Death in Banaras - Jonathan P. Parry

Movies Mentioned in this episode:
Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi - Seema Pahwa
Rudali - Kalpana Lajmi
Pagglait - Umesh Bist

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Are influencers rewriting the rules of publishing?

Back with a brand new season of Books and Beyond, in this episode Tara and Michelle discuss the rise of influencer books and what it means for the Indian publishing scene. From the buzz at Penguin Palooza to the power of social media, they dig into how influencer-led content is changing the game. Plus, they tackle the big question: what happens to traditional authors when influencers dominate the shelves? Tune in to find out how content creation, smart distribution, and capturing young readers' attention early are shaping the future of publishing!

Books mentioned in this episode:

Under the Influence - Malini Agrawal
She’ll Never Make It - Masoom Minawala
The Psychology of Money - Morgan Housel
The Sex Book - Lisa Mangaldas
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones - James Clear
Make Epic Money - Ankur Warikoo
The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore- Manu S. Pillai
Rebel Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji - Manu S. Pillai
Spare - Prince Harry
Sach Kahu Toh - Neena Gupta
The Girls in Green - Tanushree Podder

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

How can data make or break a company? Is all data useful? And can data be “too much of a good thing”?

In this episode of Books and Beyond, Tara speaks to Nitin Seth, CEO at Incedo and the author of Mastering the Data Paradox and Nirmalya Kumar, a Professor and former Strategy Head for the Tata Group, who has written Clash: Amazon vs. Walmart.

They discuss how data on its own is nothing unless you know how to use it and the pros and cons of data-driven decision-making. They share insights on the ongoing competition between Amazon and Walmart in the retail industry, emphasising the need to set goals and understand diverse perspectives and industry trends before making decisions.

In this exclusive series in partnership with Penguin Random House India, we shine a spotlight on two industry experts who are changing the conversation around business, data and AI.

Tune in to hear their personal experiences in entrepreneurship, find out who inspired them and their process of writing books.

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

In this episode of Books and Beyond, Tara speaks to Mitali Mukherjee about her book Cryptocrimes.

Tara and Mitali dive into the chaotic world of cryptocurrency, and discover why Mitali compares it to a naughty child running amok in a classroom. Through engaging anecdotes and insightful conversations, she explores the intersection of crypto technology and India’s jugaad culture. Mitali unearths the dark side of cryptocurrency in India in her book, revealing the hidden pitfalls and the harsh realities behind the allure of easy profits.

Tune in to discover why, in the world of finance, quick gains aren’t always what they seem.

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Can a corvid detective solve a murder? Why does the weather department need a singer? And how does a cloud herder take care of his flock? Find out the truth behind all these stories in Gigi Ganguly’s new book “Biopeculiar”.

This is the first-ever book of Westland’s new speculative imprint ‘IF’.

In this episode, Gigi and Michelle discuss their love for weird stories, the animals that inspired Gigi to write, and why a spec fic imprint is important for Indian literature.

Tune in to hear what books inspired their writing, how Gigi came up with the characters in her story and why Satyajit Ray is a gem of the Indian spec fic genre.

Movies Mentioned in this episode:

Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne by Satyajit Ray, based on the story by Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury
Interstellar
Aranyer Din Ratri by Satyajit Ray

Books Mentioned in this episode:

The Monk and Robot Series by Becky Chambers
Gullivers Travels
Your Utopia by Bora Chung
The Mill House Murders by Ho-Ling Wong
Under the Skin by Michael Faber
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Story of Your Life Ted Chiang
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
The Matchbox by Ashapurna Devi
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Sally Diamond cannot understand why what she did was so strange. She was only doing what her father told her to do, to put him out with the rubbish when he died.

This is the basic plot of ‘Strange Sally Diamond’ whose author, Liz Nugent joined Tara and Michelle on this episode of Books & Beyond to discuss Irish crime writing and the complexities of writing about trauma and identity.

Together they shared their perspectives on the popularity of true crime novels in both India and Ireland, and delved into the complexities of trauma, identity, and parenting in their novels.

Liz discusses her fascination with dark characters and themes, citing Shakespearean tragedies as an influence. She talked about rewriting the ending for American audiences, as they found it too dark. Additionally, she also spoke about how the novel explores the theme of parenting through the lens of a dysfunctional family, highlighting the complexities of raising children in a society that perpetuates patriarchal norms.

Book and authors mentioned in this episode:

‘The Last Man’ by Jane Harper
‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ by Patricia Highsmith
‘A Fine Balance’ by Rohinton Mistry
‘Perfume’ by Michael Patrick Susskind
‘Prophet Song’ by Paul Lynch

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

In this episode, Tara and Michelle speak to Vibha Kagzi, author of ‘Break The MBA Code’ - a book that goes into detail about how to get into Ivy League colleges and what a person should do to make their admission application more appealing.

They talked about the challenges of pursuing an MBA as a woman, with speakers sharing their personal experiences and insights. Vibha debunked common myths surrounding MBA admissions, emphasizing the holistic evaluation of a candidate's profile.

In this exciting partnership series with Jaico Publishing House, we are featuring fascinating new authors every month, writers that captivate the audience and bring forth a revolutionary perspective to Indian literature.

Hear directly from one of the top admissions consultants in India as she underlines the importance of honesty, authenticity, and soft skills training during the application process.

Vibha shared her experience as an admissions consultant, highlighting the role of consultants in showcasing genuine strengths and experiences to stand out in a competitive process.

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Content Warning: Discussions about torture, violence, and mental health issues.

The most agonizing and horrifying torture devices from the medieval era - but with a twist!

In this episode, Tara and Michelle speak to Aparna Sanyal, author of 'Instruments of Torture' - a book that explores modern society through metaphorical depictions of 8 torture devices. From ‘The Spanish Boot’ that covers impossible beauty standards to ‘The Judas Cradle’ that covers a forbidden love affair, each story reveals the dark, unexplored corners of the human psyche.

Aparna reminisces about her journey being an alumna of the first Bound Writer's Retreat in 2018! She also talks about the torture instruments she chose for her book, seeing them in real life, why her writings always have dark themes, and her Bollywood-esque story of meeting her editor from Harpercollins!

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Who is India’s first ‘Birdwoman’? Who is the ‘Turtle Girl’?
How many of India’s women wildlife biologists can you name?

In this episode, Tara speaks with Anita Mani, editor of ‘Women in the Wild’ - an anthology of stories of India’s pioneering women wildlife biologists.

From the 1940s to the present, Anita features the profiles of Indian women who dedicated their life to protecting biodiversity, from Jamal Ara who spent her life studying birds and mysteriously disappeared one day, to Vidya Athreya who studies the human-leopard conflict, and contemporaries like Divya Mudappa who studies rainforests!

Anita talks about her own interest in wildlife and bird-watching, how the women in her book made path-breaking findings across forests, rivers, oceans and mountains, and what the wildlife conservation industry is like for women- from remote locations, long hours, lack of beds and toilets, and even close encounters with wild animals!

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

The Peregrine - J.A. Baker
Jennifer Ackerman
Madhaviah Krishnan

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

This is the story of an entrepreneur who almost sold his soul to AI.

In this episode, Michelle speaks with Appupen and Laurent Daudent, the illustrator-scientist duo that came together to create 'Dream Machine' - a graphic novel on AI! The book follows Hugo, who is on the verge of selling his AI tech to a large corporation. But what if the motives behind this purchase are not exactly ethical?

Appupen and Laurent discuss the evolution of AI and why the hype and fear around it might be misleading. They also address their differing opinions on AI, working together from France and India, and why they regret making AI write a chapter of their book!

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

The Circle - Dave Eggers

Movies and TV shows mentioned in this episode:

I, Robot - Alex Proyas (Director)
Her - Spike Jonze (Director)
Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya - Amit Joshi, Aradhana Sah (Directors)

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Before Adam and Eve, there was Adam and Lilith.
But who is Lilith and what happened to her?

In this episode, Michelle speaks with Shinie Antony, author of ‘Eden Abandoned’, which tells the story of Adam’s first wife and the first woman ever - Lilith. When Lilith refused to submit to Adam, she got banished from Eden and erased from the scriptures. But what did she do next?

Michelle and Shinie discuss villainized women in mythology, how Lilith stood up for herself and got branded a “child-eating monster”, and why Shinie thinks an angry, articulate woman is a work of art!

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

Lilith - Nikki Marmery
Names of the Women - Jeet Thayil
The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
The Covenant of Water - Abraham Verghese

Movies and TV shows mentioned in this episode:

Supernatural - Eric Kripke (Creator)
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina - Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Creator)

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

It might be time to ditch the traditional path to success and follow the path of “evil”!

In this episode, Michelle and Tara speak with Anand Neelakanthan, author of the ‘The Asura Way’, a book that redefines the asura lifestyle and explores why “negative” traits like anger, pride, competition, commonly associated with the asuras, can actually benefit us!

In this exciting partnership series with Jaico Publishing House, we are featuring fascinating new authors every month, writers that captivate the audience and bring forth a revolutionary perspective to Indian literature.

Anand talks about why he ‘became an asura’, why he thinks the stories our parents tell us were invented to keep us in check, and why we need to wholeheartedly embrace the “evil” within us!

Tune in!

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What does one of India's top entrepreneurs have to say about writing, making money, and marketing books?

In this episode, Tara and Michelle speak with Ankur Warikoo, bestselling author of 'Make Epic Money', a book that teaches you everything you wish you knew about money!
Ankur talks about how his relationship with money changed, gaining financial freedom, and writing a book for youngsters to learn everything about money that nobody tells them. He also talks about how he started writing, his biggest tip for writers, and the three marketing strategies he used to create a bestselling book!

Bonus: Ankur also answers crowdsourced questions about managing money and tips for young writers and entrepreneurs!

Tune in!

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
Rework - David Heinemeier Hansson and Jason Fried
Atmamun - Kapil Gupta
Atomic Habits - James Clear
The Psychology of Money - Morgan Housel

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Discover some of the finest works of Indian detective fiction, all in one place!

In this episode, Michelle and Aishwarya speak with Tarun Saint, curator of 'The Hachette Book of Indian Detective Fiction', Volumes 1 and 2! The first of its kind, the anthology compiles everything from intriguing whodunits, supernatural mysteries, and serial murders, spread across two volumes.

Join us as Tarun talks about going from reading Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie, to curating some of India's best detective fiction from authors like Satyajit Ray to Vikram Chandra in this long-awaited anthology. He also discusses his previous work in speculative fiction, the increasing number of women writers in detective fiction, and what the detective fiction scene in India could look like going forward!

Tune in!

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

The Sherlock Holmes series - Arthur Conan Doyle
The Famous Five series - Enid Blyton
The Nancy Drew series - Carolyn Keene
The Hardy Boys series - Franklin W. Dixon
The Lottery - Shirley Jackson
Lamb to the Slaughter - Roald Dahl
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What's it like being a female taxi driver in a city notorious for being unsafe for women?

In this episode, Michelle speaks with Manjula Padmanabhan, author of 'Taxi', whose protagonist, 'Maddy', runs a women's-only taxi service in Delhi! And when Maddy receives an attractive job offer as a pretend male chauffeur for a powerful old man, she accepts and becomes 'Madan'. But what happens when the lines blur between 'Maddy' and 'Madan' and she finds herself questioning her identity?

Join us as Manjula talks about her inspiration behind the book, her award-winning play 'Harvest', and why Manjula herself never learnt to drive!

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

Why Men Rape - Tara Kaushal
White Tiger - Aravind Adiga
Equations - Shivani Sybil
Through The Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There - Lewis Caroll
The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

South Asia boasts a less than 1% divorce rate. But the real reason behind it is far from happy marriages.

In this episode, Tara and Michelle sit down with Aisha Sarwari and Shasvathi Siva, as they talk about misogyny and marriages in South Asia.

Aisha's book, 'Heart Tantrums', is a memoir that addresses her immigrant life and her marriage to a man with a personality-altering brain tumor and how, despite the grief and abuse she faced, she was told that being a devoted wife would fix everything.
Shasvathi's book, 'Divorce is Normal', is a handy guidebook that aims to normalize divorce and provide legal, emotional, and mental support for anyone going through divorce, or considering it. What is it like to be a divorced woman in South Asia and why is there so much stigma attached?

In this exclusive series in partnership with Penguin Random House India, we will shine a spotlight on two compelling contemporary voices each month, individuals who are reshaping the landscape of Indian literature.

Join us in a thought-provoking conversation as we delve into the realities of South Asian marriages, societal expectations, and why it's always better to "struggle with the community"!

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

When I Hit You - Meena Kandasamy
Rewriting My Happily Ever After - Ranjani Rao
How Much is Too Much? - Neha Mehrotra
The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
All About Love - Bell Hooks

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Find out what it was like growing up in post-independence India through the eyes of a man who lived through it all!

Join Michelle as she speaks with Bhaskar Roy, author of 'Fifty Year Road', a personal memoir like no other. Bhaskar talks about growing up during the Naxalbari uprising - the armed peasant revolt of 1967 in West Bengal. He shares his earliest memories of witnessing the violence of the Naxalite movement, stories of his parents and their activism, and risky assignments that he's covered during his days as a journalist, including watching a car blow up in front of his eyes!

In this exciting partnership series with Jaico Publishing House, we are featuring fascinating new authors every month, writers that captivate the audience and bring forth a revolutionary perspective to Indian literature.

Tune in for a never-before-seen view of India's history!

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
Sons and Lovers - D.H. Lawrence

Movies mentioned in this episode:
The Calcutta Trilogy - Mrinal Sen (Director)

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

"We will pay the price for the sins of our forefathers"

In this episode, Michelle speaks with Santanu Bhattacharya, author of 'One Small Voice' - a thought-provoking coming-of-age book about the politics of modern India, whose protagonist witnesses an act of mob violence in the communal riots of 1992 and is haunted by it for the rest of his life.
Santanu speaks about watching multiple videos of the riots for research, being a part of the generation of writers who grew up witnessing it, and why he feels like his whole life has been a passive researcher for this book.

Tune in!

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

The Memoirs of Valmiki Rao - Lindsay Pereira
Quarterlife - Devika Rege
A Burning - Megha Majumdar
The Association of Small Bombs - Karan Mahajan
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne
The Shadow Lines - Amitav Ghosh
Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

One powerful secret. Two stolen paintings. And a man who will decide the fate of the world.

Join Michelle as she sits down with Tarun Mehrishi, author of ‘The Portrait of a Secret’ - a novel inspired by true events. In an epic combination of art heist, historical fiction and spy thriller, Tarun’s book explores the aftermath of the theft of two priceless paintings and a secret that has the RAW, ISI and the CIA scrambling to gain control.

Tarun talks about how the book was inspired by India’s actual history of stolen art, how he acquired the inside scoop on spy work, and how his book is being adapted for the screen!

Tune in!

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

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Clear and Present Danger - Tom Clancy
The Hunt for Red October - Tom Clancy
Calling Sehmat - Harinder Singh Sikka

Movies mentioned in this episode:

Raazi - Meghna Gulzar (Director)

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Find out what centuries-old epics have to offer in the modern era!

In this episode, Michelle sits down with Amit Majmudar and Shantanu Gupta to discuss all things mythology. Amit talks about his book, 'The Book of Vows', which is a retelling of the Mahabharata through all the vows that took place in the epic, sprinkled with his own insights on ethics and values. Shantanu's 'Teachings from the Ramayana' is a handy book of 25 case studies for families to navigate daily life challenges through crosswords and reflective exercises.

In this exclusive series in partnership with Penguin Random House India, we will shine a spotlight on two compelling contemporary voices each month, individuals who are reshaping the landscape of Indian literature.

Amit and Shantanu discuss the need for contemporary retellings, the treasure-trove of invaluable lessons they contain, and lesser-known versions that will change the way you view the epics!

Tune in!

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

"One fine morning, he's told, 'Your father is dead, your brother's been exiled, so now you have to go and become king"’.

In this episode, Tara and Michelle talk to Shatrujeet Nath, author of the series 'Warlord of Ayodhya'. The series focuses on Bharat - Ram's brother - who was never given a voice in the Ramayana. It tells the story of an untrained, unwilling hero who is thrown into the spotlight and has to face troubles far beyond his imagination. Will he succeed or will he bring doom to his kingdom?

In this exciting partnership series with Jaico Publishing House, we are featuring fascinating new authors every month, writers that captivate the audience and bring forth a revolutionary perspective to Indian literature.

Shatrujeet also talks about how Bharat caught his attention, how he wrote adrenaline-filled battle scenes and how he's excited to conclude his series in an epic revelation from the Ramayana that is sure to stun the reader!

Tune in!

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table - Roger Lancelyn Green
The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie
The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch
Paolo Bacigalupi
J.R.R. Tolkein
China Miéville

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Three sisters, none of whom wanted to fall in love, and yet they did.
Are you ready for some dramatic, relatable, and light-hearted desi romance?

In this episode, Michelle and Tara speak to Andaleeb Wajid about her most popular romance series- 'Jasmine Villa'. The series comprises three books, each following one of the three sisters of Jasmine Villa as they navigate Indian family dynamics, sisterhood, and find unexpected romance in a tangle of complex, interconnected relationships.

Andaleeb talks about writing romance in spite of being a cynic, adding drama in her stories for fun, and why we keep returning to rom-coms despite their unrealistic standards!

Join us as we watch this romance take off (literally)!

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Open Water - Caleb Azumah Nelson
Normal People - Sally Rooney
Iron Flame - Rebecca Yarros
Someone Like Her - Awais Khan
The Partition Trilogy - Manreet Sodhi Someshwar
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

How did one disastrous field trip turn a history teacher's life upside down?

In this episode, Michelle speaks with Anjum Hasan, author of 'History's Angel'- a riveting novel that explores life as a religious minority in modern India. When an easygoing history teacher is provoked by a student into losing his temper, he finds his life thrown into chaos as he battles with what it means to be a Muslim in present times.

Anjum recalls stories from her childhood and growing up Muslim, and talks about why Delhi is the perfect setting for her story, with a rich past that is unraveled through her protagonist’s eyes.

Tune in for an unforgettable revisit into history!

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

The Discovery of India - Jawaharlal Nehru
An Intimate Portrait of a Great Mughal - Parvati Sharma
Akbar of Hindustan - Parvati Sharma

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‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Imagine a crowded railway station where an attractive stranger catches your eye. A train passes by and– they’re gone!

In this episode, Michelle sits down with Damyanti Biswas to discuss her book ‘The Blue Bar’, as it unpacks the disappearance of a woman dressed in a blue sequined saree from a crowded Mumbai railway station and how, 13 years later, a trail of murders begin with nothing to show for it- except blue sequins. They discuss how Damyanti sat in railway stations watching trains as part of her research, how she obsessively read about bar dancers, and why The Blue Bar is a Mumbai novel, through and through.

In this exciting partnership series with Jaico Publishing House, we are featuring fascinating new authors every month, writers that captivate the audience and bring forth a revolutionary perspective to Indian literature.

What secrets and terrible crimes lie behind the glamor of Bollywood, dance bars, and mangroves in Mumbai?

Tune in to find out!

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

Beautiful Thing: Inside the Secret World of Bombay’s Dance Bars - Sonia Faleiro
The Last Courtesan - Manish Gaekwad
Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found - Suketu Mehta
Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts
Sacred Games - Vikram Chandra
The Secret of More - Tejaswini Apte-Rahm
Manjhi’s Mayhem - Tanuj Solanki

Movies mentioned in this episode:

Chandni Bar - Madhur Bhandarkar (Director)

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Picture this: Kerala, a family that suffers a strange hereditary affliction- and everywhere they look is the very thing that could kill them.

In this episode Tara talks to Abraham Verghese about his bestselling book 'The Covenant of Water'. The book is set in the Malabar Coast of Kerala and follows three generations of a family where, in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning.

Abraham talks about how his book was loosely inspired by his mother's 120-paged, illustrated depiction of her childhood, his experience in medicine, and how he always carries a pocketful of knowledge about rare diseases!

Join us as we find out why this was Oprah's book club pick and why she simply did not want the book to end!

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:
God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
The Better Man - Anita Nair
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois - Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Master and Commander - Patrick O’Brian

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What happens when two women find themselves in the midst of horrendous crimes?

Join us as Tara and Michelle speak to two avid thriller writers– Devashish Sardana and Nidhi Upadhyay. In this episode, Devashish discusses his book “The Girl with Broken Dreams”, a story of a feisty CBI investigator who finds herself in a quest for the truth behind a string of suicides, while battling her own demons. And Nidhi Upadhyay talks about her book “I Hear You”, a story of a woman trapped in an abusive marriage, and how she starts talking to the baby in her womb- only to find him responding!

In this exclusive series in partnership with Penguin Random House India, we will shine a spotlight on two compelling contemporary voices each month, individuals who are reshaping the landscape of Indian literature.

Tune in to hear how they started their thriller-writing journey, how they kept finding their way back despite having day jobs, and the concerning contents of a thriller writer’s search history!

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris

And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

Godaan - Munshi Premchand

Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens

Movies and TV shows mentioned in this episode:

Misery - Stephen King (Director- Rob Reiner)

Mahabharata - B.R. Chopra

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Why do some peoples’ life stories fascinate us?

Back with a bang for a brand new season, Tara and Michelle share their love for stories about real people. They discuss tales of extraordinary courage, struggles, perseverance, successes, and failures. What draws us to these stories? Are only some stories deserving of a platform? Whose stories do we not hear enough of?

Tune in to find out!

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

Meow Meow: The Incredible True Story of Baby Patankar - Srinath Rao

Nowhere Man: The Story of Captain Kamal Bakshi, Missing Since the 1971 Indo-Pak War - Shivalik Bakshi

Unbroken - Indrani Mukerjea

Women in the Wild: Stories of India’s Most Brilliant Women Wildlife Biologists - Anita Mani

The Taliban and I - Sushmita Bandyopadhyay

Madam Commissioner: The Extraordinary Life of an Indian Police Chief - Meeran Chadha Borwankar

Remnants of a Separation - Aanchal Malhotra

R.A.W Hitman: The Real Story of Agent Lima - Hussain Zaidi

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing - Matthew Perry

Sridevi: The South Years - Amborish Roy Choudhury

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike - Phil Knight

Fire on the Ganges: Life Among the Dead in Banaras - Radhika Iyengar

His Majesty’s Headhunters: The Siege of Kohima that Shaped World History - Mmhonlümo Kikon

We Come From the Mist: Writings from Meghalaya

Truck de India!: A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Hindustan - Rajat Ubhaykar

What’s Left of the Jungle: A Conservation Story - Nitin Sekar

Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine - Kavitha Rao

Aruna’s Story: The True Account of a Rape and its Aftermath - Pinki Virani

Movies and TV shows mentioned:

Beckham - Fisher Stevens

Taali - Ravi Jadhav

Produced by Aishwarya Javalgekar

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Are you ready to go down the path of success?

In this episode, Tara and Michelle talk to the ISKCON monk Gopinath Das, author of “The Power of Karma Yoga: Decoding Ancient Wisdom for Lasting Success”. An IIT graduate turned monk, Gopinath Das is on a mission to educate modern society by combining science and profound life advice found in ancient texts.

In an exciting partnership series with Jaico Publishing House, we are featuring fascinating new authors every month, writers that captivate the audience and bring forth a revolutionary perspective to Indian literature.

What secrets of life do the ancient books hold?

Tune in to find out!

Books mentioned in this episode:

Rafa: My Story- Rafael Nadal, John Carlin
Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked- Adam Alter
The Obstacle is the Way- Ryan Holiday
Ego is the Enemy- Ryan Holiday

Produced by Aishwarya Javalgekar

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What happens if you are faced with a choice that complicates matters between your professional and personal lives?

This episode sees Tara and Michelle dive into a conversation with Rheea Mukherjee and Gargi Rawat, as they explore the nuances of modern-day activism and the ethical dilemmas that come with it.

Join us as we talk to Rheea Mukherjee about her book “The Girl Who Kept Falling In Love”, and how it uncovers the story of Kaya who hurtles into activism in her search for purpose, and along the way, witnesses extreme torment and heartfelt love. Will she conquer her insecurities and do what she set out to accomplish?
The hosts also talk to Gargi Rawat, author of “Tiger Season”, about the complexities of the human-wildlife conflict as the protagonist Sunaina, embarks on a journey of wild-life conservation, controversies, and unintentional love. Will she find a balance among them?

In this exclusive series in partnership with Penguin Random House India, we will shine a spotlight on two compelling contemporary voices each month, individuals who are reshaping the landscape of Indian literature.

Tune in for a thought-provoking episode!

Books mentioned in this episode:

The Adivasi Will Not Dance: Stories- Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar
Leila- Prayaag Akbar
The Lottery- Shirley Jackson
What’s Left of the Jungle: A Conservation Story- Nitin Sekar

Movies mentioned in this episode:

Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya- Rajat Mukherjee
The List- Yomi Adegoke

Produced by Aishwarya Javalgekar

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What is it like burning bodies amidst raging fires every day? Who are the corpse-burners and the owners of the “sacred fire”?

In this episode, Tara speaks to Radhika Iyengar, author of “Fire On The Ganges: Life Among The Dead In Banaras”, as she provides us insight into the Doms’ lives- the community tasked with handling the last rites of the dead. Researched and compiled from her interactions and interviews with the community, Radhika’s book explores the individual stories of struggles and success within the Dom community.

Join us in conversation with Tara and Radhika as they talk about the everyday lives of the Doms, how their work affects them, and how some of them are defying all odds to build a life for themselves.

Produced by Aishwarya Javalgekar

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

In this exclusive series in partnership with Penguin Random House India, we will shine a spotlight on two compelling contemporary voices each month, individuals who are reshaping the landscape of Indian literature.

In this special episode of Books & Beyond, Tara and Michelle converse with Aditi Kumar and Shivalik Bakshi as they take us on a tour of the Indian Army and give us an insider’s view of defence families.

Exploring the heartbreaking story of the forgotten men of the 1971 Indo-Pak war and the relentless search to get them back home, Shivalik Bakshi brings us the story of his own uncle, Capt Kamal Bakshi who was declared ‘Missing-Believed Killed’ after the Battle of Chamb, in his book “Nowhere Man”.

Aditi Kumar’s novel “Operation Payback” is the story of a Veer Nari who decides to join the Indian Army to honour her husband’s legacy, and delivers an audacious plan of action to deliver much-deserved payback not just for herself but for the entire nation.

Tune in to hear heartfelt and never-before-heard stories about individuals who serve in the armed forces!

Produced by Aishwarya Javalgekar

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Does history give you goosebumps? Specifically, history that explores the minds of kings and uncovers hidden stories of little-known queens?

In this episode, Tara and Michelle venture into the ancient palaces of South India as they converse with Anirudh Kanisetti, author of “Lords of the Deccan: Southern Indian from the Chalukyas to the Cholas”. They discuss how a majority of Deccan history got left out and why it mattered enough to make him dive into translations of literature and inscriptions from 600-1100 CE, how he made friends through memes, and why making history accessible was important to him.

Tune in to hear Anirudh Kanisetti talk about his fascination for Deccan history, and examine the politics of the Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas and Cholas up close!

Produced by Aishwarya Javalgekar

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

How do you create a family drama embroiled in suspense?

In this episode, Tara and Michelle uncover the nuances of writing a thriller with Vivek Shanbhag. We delve into how he navigates the minefield of family life as well as the intricate realm between truth and perception amidst India's evolving social and political landscape.

Tune in to hear them unpack Vivek Shanbhag’s writing process, his books, Kannada literature, translations into English, the politics of translations, and how pop culture helped him learn a language.

Authors mentioned:

Asghar Farhadi
Damodar Mauzo
Arunava Sinha
Italo Calvino

Produced by Aishwarya Javalgekar

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What ugly truths lie behind the carefully curated social circles in Dhaka’s high society?

In this episode, Tara and Michelle converse with Nadeem Zaman, author of “The Inheritors”, as he talks about privilege, parties, and politics in Dhaka. In a delightful mix of satire and social commentary, his book explores Nisar’s eye-opening journey back to his hometown as he uncovers secrets and revisits his childhood “home”.

Tune in to hear Nadeem Zaman talk about what it’s like to party with the elite in modern-day Dhaka, the class disparity he witnessed growing up, why his book has not been published in the US, and his upcoming work of fiction.

Authors mentioned in this episode:
Mira Sethi
Jhumpa Lahiri
Taslima Nasreen
Sharbari Zohra Ahmed

Books mentioned in this episode:
Citizen By Descent- Kritika Arya
The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald
Independence- Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Destination Wedding- Diksha Basu
Equations- Shivani Sibal
Crazy Rich Asians- Kevin Kwan
Pineapple Street- Jenny Jackson
Truth or Dare: And Other Stories- Nadia Kabir Barb

Produced by Aishwarya Javalgekar
Sound edit by Kshitij Jadhav

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What does it take for a national hero to be deemed a deadly criminal?
Join your host Michelle, as she dives into conversation with Hussain Zaidi, author of “R.A.W. Hitman: The Real Story of Agent Lima”, as he talks about covering the story of Lucky Bisht, who was convicted for the alleged murder of two notorious criminals. In his book, he uncovers how a 16-year-old ended up being “a fantabulous killing machine”.

In this episode, you’ll hear how Hussain Zaidi accidentally hurtled headfirst into crime journalism and how he escaped getting shot in Iraq by bonding over Bollywood and Amitabh Bachchan.
Tune in to hear more stories about his growth as a crime journalist, how he convinced Lucky Bisht to tell his story, and the trouble he faced getting it published.

Authors mentioned in this episode:
Vikram Chandra
Neeraj Kumar

Books and series mentioned in this episode:
Dongri to Dubai- Hussain Zaidi
The Lincoln Lawyer (Series)
Bambai Meri Jaan- Dir. Shujaat Saudagar

Produced by Aishwarya Javalgekar
Sound edit by Kshitij Jadhav

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Is our worth as women determined by our ability to make rotis? In this episode, we delve into the nuances of writing mainstream feminist poetry in India!

Join Tara and Michelle as they talk to Mehak Goyal about her book “Failure to Make Round Rotis: Poems on Rebellion, Resilience and Relationships”, about her inspiration, her writing process, and her publishing journey. How did she go from a start-up founder to a published poet? How did she decide what to write? How did she translate her personal experience into poems? And more importantly, how did a mainstream publishing house pick up a poetry book?

Tune in to find out!

Authors and Poets mentioned:
John Keats
Jeet Thayil
Ranjit Hoskote
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Fatimah Asghar
Arundhathi Subramaniam
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Books mentioned:
Infidel by Ayaan Ali

Produced by Aishwarya Javalgekar
Sound edit by Kshitij Jadhav

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What would you do if you discovered your favourite sport, which is almost a religion in this country, is rife with corruption?

Join your hosts Tara and Michelle as they unravel the shocking story of corruption in cricket with one of India's most well-respected police officers and a former BCCI anti-corruption chief.

In this episode, you'll hear from Neeraj Kumar as he tells us how he uncovered the alarming truth behind the administration that runs various cricket tournaments, including the IPL, and the impact it has on our country’s sportsmen.

This is a podcast episode you don't want to miss. It will inspire you, anger you, and make you think. Tune in now and find out why "A Cop in Cricket" is a book you have to read, especially if you love cricket.

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

Byculla to Bangkok - S. Hussain Zaidi

Nine Lives - William Dalrymple

Memoirs of A Maverick: The First Fifty Years (1941–1991) - Mani Shankar Aiyar

Vengeance - George Jonas

Confessions of a Thug - Philip Meadows Taylor
P. G. Wodehouse

Produced by Aishwarya Jawalgekar

Sound edit by Kshitij Jadhav

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Imagine discovering surprisingly progressive stories from the 19th century, all written by your grandmother!

In this episode, we'll introduce you to Ranjana Kaul and her passionate endeavour to do justice to her grandmother's legacy — a trailblazing woman, who not only wrote but also fervently fought for women's rights.

Join your host, Michelle, as she delves deep into the captivating accounts of how Ranjana serendipitously unearthed the stories and accounts of her grandmother. Laxmibai Abhyankar wrote short stories in Marathi, and Kaul, her granddaughter, painstakingly translated and moulded her work into an English collection called "Stepmother and Other Stories".

The collection highlights archaic customs and regressive beliefs, such as the mistreatment of widows and the denial of education to women.

Produced by Aishwarya Jawalgekar
Sound Edit by Kshitij Jadhav

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

How would you react if you found out that your employer was poisoning you and your community with a deadly substance?

Join your hosts Tara and Michelle as they unravel the astonishing story of "Heavy Metal: How a Global Corporation Poisoned Kodaikanal" by journalist Ameer Shahul. Prepare to be drawn into a world of courage, corporate recklessness, and the battle for justice.

In this episode, you'll hear from Ameer Shahul himself how he uncovered the horrifying facts about the mercury contamination, how he joined forces with Greenpeace and the local workers to launch a campaign against the company, and the challenges he faced to publish his book.

This is a podcast episode you don't want to miss. It will inspire you, anger you, and make you think. Tune in now and find out why "Heavy Metal: How a Global Corporation Poisoned Kodaikanal" is more than just a book - it's a movement.

Tune in to the riveting world of corporate accountability and environmental justice.

Movies & Shows mentioned in this episode :
Chernobyl – Dir. Johan Renck
Qala Dir – Anvita Dutt Guptan
Erin Brokovich – Dir. Steven Soderbergh
Minamata – Dir. Andrew Levitas

Produced by Aishwarya Jawalgekar
Sound edit by Kshitij Jadhav

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

In this exclusive series in partnership with Penguin Random House India, we will shine a spotlight on two compelling contemporary voices each month, individuals who are reshaping the landscape of Indian literature.

In this special episode of Books & Beyond, Tara and Michelle talk to two Indian diasporic writers – Shastri Akella and Jai Chakrabarti, about their books that break the mold of conventional storytelling and offer nuanced perspectives on gender stereotypes.

Being Indian writers based out of the US, how do they explore themes of gender, sexuality, and identity in their works? How do they challenge the stereotypes and expectations of Indian culture and society? How do they celebrate the diversity and complexity of the LGBTQ+ community in India and beyond?

They discuss Shastri’s “The Sea Elephants” – a queer coming-of-age novel about a young man ‘Shagun’ who joins a street theater troupe and discovers his feminine side. And Jai’s “A Small Sacrifice for an Enormous Happiness” – a collection of stories that explore family, culture, and identity across borders, featuring characters who defy gender norms and embrace their true selves.

Tune in to have your perspectives challenged!

Book mentioned in this episode :
The God Of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
The Gathering by Anne Enright
Close to Home by Michael Magee
The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkein

Authors mentioned in this episode :
Salman Rushdie
Fareed Zakaria
Aanchal Malhotra
Bernard Malamud
Michael Cunningham
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Produced by Aishwarya Jawalgekar
Sound edit by Kshitij Jadhav

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What does it take to write a memoir of your mother, who was a courtesan in a changing India? Did Manish’s relationship with his mother color his own narration of her life story? Did he leave out bits that made him uncomfortable? What did his mother say when he told her he wanted to write a book about her?

In this episode of “Books and Beyond,” Tara and Michelle talk to Manish Gaekwad, the author of “The Last Courtesan,” a memoir of his mother, Rekhabai, who was one of the last tawaifs (courtesans) in India.

They discover Rekhabai’s extraordinary life story, from being sold and trained as a wife to becoming a singing and dancing star in Calcutta and Bombay, to raising her son in a challenging world. They find out Manish’s own journey from growing up in a world of mujras, kathak and thumri.

Tune in to this episode to learn more about the fascinating lives of Manisha and Rekhabai, and their bond of love and courage.

Produced by Aishwarya Jawalgekar
Sound Edit by Kshitij Jadhav

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What mysteries lie beneath ‘Meow Meow’ — one of Mumbai’s biggest drug scandals?

Join Michelle and Tara for a thrilling episode of Books and Beyond with stellar crime reporter Srinath Rao as he takes us on a journey of the process of writing his breathtaking book unveiling the life and crimes of Shashikala ‘Baby’ Patankar, infamous as ‘Mumbai’s Drug Queen’.
What is Meow Meow, the drug that flooded the streets of Mumbai? How did Baby get involved in the drug racket, and who is she beyond her persona as a criminal? How does one report crime?

Tune in to dive into an enthralling conversation about crime!

Produced by Aishwarya Jawalgekar
Sound Edit by Kshitij Jadhav

If you want to create a book to cherish your loved ones or share your knowledge with the world, read more about Bound's ghostwriting services here: https://www.boundindia.com/services/ghostwriting/

Or email us at connect@boundindia.com.

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

In this special series with Penguin India, we will be spotlighting two interesting contemporary voices every month who are game changers in Indian literature.

How do ancient and moving epics reach the world through translation?
Join Michelle and Tara for a very special episode of Books & Beyond in partnership with Penguin, where they have some exciting conversations around translations with two language connoisseurs, Nandini Vijayaraghavan and Catherine Thankamma!
They talk about Nandini Vijayaraghavan’s four-part translation of Tamil legend Kalki’s epic myth, “Sivakami’s Vow” and Catherine Thankamma’s translation of the Malayalam bestseller, Susanna’s Granthapura by Ajai P. Mangattu. Michelle and Tara, with their guests, uncover the process and politics of translation, talk about fidelity to original texts and understand the fall back in time to learn about the world of myths!

Tune in to learn the secrets of translation and mythology!

Produced by Aishwarya Jawalgekar
Sound edit by Kshitij Jadhav

If you want to create a book to cherish your loved ones or share your knowledge with the world, read more about Bound's ghostwriting services here: https://www.boundindia.com/services/ghostwriting/

Or email us at connect@boundindia.com.

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Join Michelle and Tara in conversation with Nidhi Chawla and Reshmi Chakraborty about their book ‘Rethink Ageing: Lessons in Ageing from the Older and Bolder Generation’ — a book that challenges the way we think about ageing in India today. What does it mean to age actively, and how can one do it? Can you start afresh once you cross the threshold of 55? And how do you prepare for your second innings? Michelle and Tara find out what options are available to senior citizens in terms of jobs, hobbies and dating!
Tune in to an enlightening discussion!

Books mentioned in this episode:
You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay

Produced by Aishwarya Jawalgekar
Edit by Kshitij Jadhav

If you want to create a book to cherish your loved ones or share your knowledge with the world, read more about Bound's ghostwriting services here: https://www.boundindia.com/services/ghostwriting/

Or email us at connect@boundindia.com.

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What secrets lie behind the silences of Bombay’s silent films?

Join Michelle in conversation with Tejaswini Apte-Rahm about her book ‘The Secret of More’, as she learns about previously unrevealed secrets that lie behind the glitz and glamour of Bombay’s silent film era. ‘The Secret of More’ looks at Bombay of the 1900s through the rags-to-riches story of Tatya, whose life is intertwined with two parts of Bombay’s beating heart – the textile mills and the silent film industry. How does he spin his story from one industry to the other? Does he fall or fly in the City of Dreams?

Tune in to find out!

Books mentioned in this episode:

Manjhi’s Mayhem by Tanuj Solanki
Borderless by Namrata Poddar
The Education of Yuri by Jerry Pinto

Produced by Aishwarya Jawalgekar
Sound edit by Kshitij Jadhav

If you want to create a book to cherish your loved ones or share your knowledge with the world, read more about Bound's ghostwriting services here: https://www.boundindia.com/services/ghostwriting/

Or email us at connect@boundindia.com.

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Tara and Michelle discuss which "myths" changed the way they view the world, and which left no impression on them at all.

Books and Beyond is back! In this episode, Tara and Michelle cover the reason behind the unfailing popularity of myths, mythology books, screen adaptations and much more. Was it Adipurush’s dialogues that led to its downfall? How much VFX is too much? Why do we still love Amar Chitra Katha? Why is everyone reading Amish Tripathi?
Tune in to find out!

Books mentioned in this episode:
Names of the Women by Jeet Thayil
Business Sutra: A Very Indian Approach to Management by Devdutt Pattanaik
Shikhandi: And Other Tales They Don't Tell You by Devdutt Pattanaik
Amar Chitra Katha
The Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi
Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
Samsara: Enter the Valley of the Gods by Saksham Garg
Mohini by Anuja Chandramouli
Harry Potter series by J K Rowling
Movies mentioned in the episode
Adipurush
Brahmastra
Soorpanagai
Renfield
Raajneeti
TV shows
Ramayana
Mahabharata

If you want to create a book to cherish your loved ones or share your knowledge with the world, read more about Bound's ghostwriting services here: https://www.boundindia.com/services/ghostwriting/

Or email us at connect@boundindia.com.

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Find out the nuances of writing feminist mythological retellings and historical fiction from the master storyteller, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni!

Join Tara and Michelle as they talk to her about her inspirations, her writing process, and her latest book ‘Independence’, which is a story of three sisters during the Partition of India and West Bengal. What is her origin story as a writer? How does she decide what stories to write? How did she navigate through the limitations of mythology to create strong women characters?

Tune in to find out!

Books mentioned in this episode:

-Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

-The Last Queen by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

-Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

-Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree

-Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

-The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

-Karna’s Wives: The Outcast Queen by Kavita Kane

-The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

-Liberation of Sita by Volga

Produced by Aishwarya Javalgekar
Sound edit by Kshitij Jadhav

Join The Bound Publishing Course, a comprehensive 3-month certified course to:
- Get your dream job with a highly curated recruitment drive!
- Learn from the most successful experts.
- Understand all aspects of publishing and choose your career track.

Apply now: https://www.boundindia.com/the-bound-publishing-course/

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Find out what happens when two psychologists unite to pen down stories from within the therapy room!

Join Tara and Michelle in conversation with Yashodhara and Aruna about their book ‘And How Do You Feel About That? Breakdowns and Breakthroughs in the Therapy Room’, in which they reconstruct and deconstruct the therapy process using fictionalized stories. What are some of the myths about therapists in India? What kind of population groups are going to therapy in India?

Books mentioned in the episode:

•The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud

•Love’s Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy by Irvin D. Yalom

•Anxiety: Overcome It and Live without Fear by Sonali Gupta

•Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? By Dr. Julie Smith

•The School of Life: An Emotional Education by Alain De Botton

•The Course of Love by Alain De Botton

•Born to Win by Muriel James

•I’m Okay, You’re Okay by Thomas Harris

•Games People Play by Eric Bern

If you want to create a book to cherish your loved ones or share your knowledge with the world, read more about Bound's ghostwriting services here: https://www.boundindia.com/services/ghostwriting/

Or email us at connect@boundindia.com.

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Find out how the Indian middle-class perceives dating and pre-marital intimate relations!

Join Michelle in conversation with Aravind Jayan about his book ‘Teen Couple Have Fun Outdoors’, which deals with the aftermath of a leaked intimate-video of a teenage couple from a middle-class family in Kerala. How can humour be used to write fiction about social issues? How does shame dictate the behaviour of Indians? What is dating like in modern India? How much freedom does the couple actually have?

Tune in to find out!

Books mentioned in this episode:

•Goodbye Columbus by Phillip Roth

•Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbag

If you want to create a book to cherish your loved ones or share your knowledge with the world, read more about Bound's ghostwriting services here: https://www.boundindia.com/services/ghostwriting/

Or email us at connect@boundindia.com.

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Find out what data can and cannot tell us about modern India - from the way we eat, work, pray, and marry!

Join Tara and Michelle in conversation with Rukmini S , the author of ‘Whole Numbers and Half Truths’, a book which uses data to decode and demystify the private, but social lives and habits of modern Indians. What does an independent data journalist do? How can numbers and data be used to tell a story? How to have conversations about sensitive issues as a journalist and writer?

Tune in to find out!

Books mentioned in the episode:

•Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

•Raag Darbari by Shrilal Shuklal

•A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

•Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh Khan by Shayana Bhattacharya

•Planning Democracy: Modern India’s Quest for Development by Nikhil Menon

•India Moving: A History of Migration by Chinmay Tumbe

•Age of Pandemics (1817-1920) by Chinmay Tumbe

•Ants Among Elephants by Sujatha Gidla

•Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women Doctors by Kavita Rao

If you want to create a book to cherish your loved ones or share your knowledge with the world, read more about Bound's ghostwriting services here: https://www.boundindia.com/services/ghostwriting/

Or email us at connect@boundindia.com.

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Find out how stories about South-Korean legends and dark lore made their way to the 2022 International Booker Prize shortlist!

Join Tara and Michelle as they speak to South-Korean writer, Bora Chung, about her book “Cursed Bunny” – a collection of short stories that blends elements of magical realism, horror, and science fiction. How can speculative fiction be used to offer a critique of unequal systems like patriarchy? How does one choose between being action-oriented or emotion-oriented in a story? How can one derive inspiration from mundane life for writing horror or magical realism? What does the process of translation entail?

Tune in to find out!

Books and shows mentioned in this episode:

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
Mist Bound by Darrell Ko
The Invincible by Stanislaw Lem
The Origin of Species and other stories by Kim Bo-young
The Tower by Bae Myung-Hoon
Launch Something by Bae Myung-Hoon
Counterweight by Djuna
The Severance
Hatching
Men
Titan
The Last of Us
I am Legend
Train to Busan

If you want to create a book to cherish your loved ones or share your knowledge with the world, read more about Bound's ghostwriting services here: https://www.boundindia.com/services/ghostwriting/

Or email us at connect@boundindia.com.

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Discover the terrifyingly exciting world of the F&B industry in Bombay!

Join Tara and Michelle in conversation with Gauri Devidayal and Vishwas Kulkarni as they talk about their new self-published book “Breakfast for Diamonds,” which reflects upon the joy and pain of starting a restaurant. How did they sustain their business during Covid 19? What is the process of self-publishing like? What is the cost of following one’s passion? Can a book work towards building brand visibility?

Tune in to find out!

Books mentioned in this episode:

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
Unreasonable Hospitality by
You’ll Never Eat Lunch in this Town Again by Julia Phillips
Bittersweet Lessons of my Mother’s Kitchen
Degh to Dastarkhwan by Tarana Khan Hussain
Classic Concurrent Cookbook by Jyotsana Shahana
Iraqi Table by Robert al Safi
My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

If you want to create a book to cherish your loved ones or share your knowledge with the world, read more about Bound's ghostwriting services here: https://www.boundindia.com/services/ghostwriting/

Or email us at connect@boundindia.com.

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Find out how the representation of the Indian family has evolved in Indian literature and movies!

Join Tara and Michelle as they dissect the popularity of family drama stories in India, taking the examples of some of the best books and movies in this genre. How does literature explore questions of love, conflict, and changing social values within families? How do books and movies portray the cultural differences in the perception of family dynamics? How does literature become a space to normalize alternate family patterns? What is the future of the Indian family in fiction?

Tune in to find out!

Books and movies mentioned in this episode:

Missoula Padmanabhan
The Golden White Cotton by Agni Doshi
Independence by Chitra Banerjee
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
The Days of Abandonment by Adina Ferrante
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Big Room by Jerry Pinto
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Teen Couple have Fun Outdoors by Aravind Jayan
Village by the Sea by Anita Desai
Rebirth by Jahnavi Barua
The Family Life by Akhil Sharma
Bombay Balchao by Jane Borges
Windfall by Diksha Basu

If you want to create a book to cherish your loved ones or share your knowledge with the world, read more about Bound's ghostwriting services here: https://www.boundindia.com/services/ghostwriting/

Or email us at connect@boundindia.com.

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Find out how Deepti Kapoor wrote a part-crime, part-family saga that shines a light on clashing social identities.

Join Tara and Michelle in conversation with Deepti Kapoor about her new book ‘Age of Vice’, in which crime, family dynamics, love, and friendship are weaved into one unforgettable story about the complex realities of contemporary Delhi. How do you deal with questions of morality in fiction? How do you write about the grey areas in relationships? What is the process of a book to screen adaptation?

Tune in to find out!

Books and movies mentioned in this episode:
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
Equations by Shivani Sybil
The Billionaire Raj by James Crabtree
Bad Character by Deepti Kapoor
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung
The Last of Us

If you want to create a book to cherish your loved ones or share your knowledge with the world, read more about Bound's ghostwriting services here: https://www.boundindia.com/services/ghostwriting/

Or email us at connect@boundindia.com.

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Find out the story of Feroza Begum, and how she lives on as a moral lesson in Rampur folktales!

Tarana Khan takes Tara and Michelle back in time to 1897 to the courts of Rampur’s Nawabs and the tragic yet courageous story of Feroza Begum as they talk about her book “The Begum and the Dastaan”. Who was Feroza Begum? What was the life of women like within the zenana? What tactics did they employ to find freedom within this cloistered space? How does Dastaangoi (the art of oral storytelling) and oral history find space in the book and becomes a way to explore the ignored histories of women?

Tune in to learn what goes behind bringing history alive through fiction!

Books and movies mentioned in this episode:

Gangubai Kathiawadi
Degh To Dastarkhwan: Qissas And Recipes From Rampur - Tarana Khan
The Half Empress - Tripti Pande

If you want to create a book to cherish your loved ones or share your knowledge with the world, read more about Bound's ghostwriting services here: https://www.boundindia.com/services/ghostwriting/

Or email us at connect@boundindia.com.

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

**Explore Goa’s syncretic culture, and uncover the heart and voice of its people through stories in Konkani.

Damodar Mauzo takes Tara and Michelle on tour around Goa, capturing the essence of the taxi drive through his book: “The Wait and Other Stories”, a collection that weaves together Goa’s cosmopolitan reality. How is Goa standing strong in the face of growing intolerance? How does one aptly represent the diversity of a place like Goa? And what does it really mean to be a Goan?

Tune in to find out the contemporary reality of Goa beyond its glittering beaches and clubs.**

Books and authors mentioned in this episode:

Haruki Murakami
100 Years of Solitude
Abdul Razak
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Jerry Pinto
Albert Camus
Amitav Ghosh

If you want to create a book to cherish your loved ones or share your knowledge with the world, read more about Bound's ghostwriting services here: https://www.boundindia.com/services/ghostwriting/

Or email us at connect@boundindia.com.

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

World hates a gambler but loves a winner. Most of us have dreamt of becoming successful gamblers and made sure to stay away from rookie gamblers and their debt.

Kamal Gupta takes Tara and Michelle through his thrilling journey of counting and gambling, which he has documented in his book: “Play It Right: The Remarkable Story of a Gambler Who Beat the Odds on Wall Street”. A real-life underdog tale of one man turning the tables on the casinos and Wall Street without selling his soul to the devil. Find out what it means to ‘make it’ in the gambling industry. Are female gamblers who count, also worried about facing violence? Can one land a job on Wall Street on the bases of their gambling experience?

Listen in to know the most difficult way to make easy money!

Books and movies mentioned in this episode:

21 - The Movie
Anomaly
Molly's game
Wolf of Wall Street

The Book People is Bound's video podcast where we demystify the book world, tell you how to get published and find other opportunities for writers in India today. Tune in for conversations with commissioning editors, book-to-screen agents, heads of OTT platforms, book marketers, and more.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5QW6APWu0BnV6f1HBQecSC
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1558134258
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXsVjEAmcMifC59mItXuw

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

There is no breeze yet you see the curtains in your room flutter. There is a sudden drop in temperature. The chirping of birds is replaced by caws. You think someone is looking at you, so you look around but you are alone…

Neil D’Silva makes sure that shivers run down the peoples’ spines as they read his book: “Baak: A Desi Horror Story”. Join Tara and Michelle as they find out what does one of India’s biggest horror writers put himself through to make sure his readers experience fear. How did a cowardly child become an accidental horror author? Is self-publishing horror books a good idea?

Tune in to discover the truth behind co-authoring a book with a paranormal investigator.

Books and filmmakers mentioned in this episode:

Dracula
Frankenstein
Ramsay Brothers
Goosebumps
Hardy Boys
Famous Five

The Book People is Bound's video podcast where we demystify the book world, tell you how to get published and find other opportunities for writers in India today. Tune in for conversations with commissioning editors, book-to-screen agents, heads of OTT platforms, book marketers, and more.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5QW6APWu0BnV6f1HBQecSC
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1558134258
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXsVjEAmcMifC59mItXuw

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

**Can you imagine being gifted a bookstore? Well, that’s what happens in Rehana Munir's new book: “Paper Moon”. Which is based on her own experience of running a bookstore, in the 2000s!

Tara and Rehana sipped on hot coffee, as they talked about Rehana's book. A book that can be only compared to a warm hug. This is a coming-of-age story of a young bookshop owner, navigating through relationships, and building a new business ground up, after her father’s passing away.

Tune in to find out how running a bookstore inspired her to write a book on her own, and the secret to getting your book noticed by Harper Collins!**

Want to join us at our next event?
Subscribe to our newsletter and get regular updates!
https://www.boundindia.com/get-in-touch/

Books & authors mentioned in this episode:

Joan Didion
Susan Sontag
84, Charing Cross Road
GQ India

The Book People is Bound's video podcast where we demystify the book world, tell you how to get published and find other opportunities for writers in India today. Tune in for conversations with commissioning editors, book-to-screen agents, heads of OTT platforms, book marketers, and more.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5QW6APWu0BnV6f1HBQecSC
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1558134258
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXsVjEAmcMifC59mItXuw

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Aashisha Chakraborty takes Tara and Michelle through her experience of surviving and thriving in a male-dominated industry with her book: “Mis (s) Adventures of a Sales Girl”, Find out how to avoid hitting the glass ceiling while climbing the corporate ladder. How she found her way back after getting lost in Chandni Chawk? Why she considers herself the CEO of her own book and how it helped her publish her own book.

Tune in to find out!

Here is a link to ‘CogVerse’, written by Vivekananda Selvaraj: https://amzn.eu/d/2BO8YFn

Books & Movies mentioned in this episode:

Wolf of Wall Street
Harry Potter
Jane Austen
Margaret Atwood
Ayn Rand
Elon Musk, by Ashlee Mann

The Book People is Bound's video podcast where we demystify the book world, tell you how to get published and find other opportunities for writers in India today. Tune in for conversations with commissioning editors, book-to-screen agents, heads of OTT platforms, book marketers, and more.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5QW6APWu0BnV6f1HBQecSC
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1558134258
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXsVjEAmcMifC59mItXuw

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Tara and Michelle debate over a question as old as time: “Do self-help books really help?”

They cover everything from productivity and dating guides to philosophy and wellness books. Can reading a self-help book help you cut sugar from your diet? Is there a definite way to get the most out of your self-help book? Was Tara able to change Michelle’s mind?

Tune in to find out!

Books mentioned in this episode:

Atomic Habits
Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
The 5 AM Club
Everything To Live For
Psychology Today
Forbes
Ikigai
When Breath Becomes Air

The Book People is Bound's video podcast where we demystify the book world, tell you how to get published and find other opportunities for writers in India today. Tune in for conversations with commissioning editors, book-to-screen agents, heads of OTT platforms, book marketers, and more.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5QW6APWu0BnV6f1HBQecSC
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1558134258
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXsVjEAmcMifC59mItXuw

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

**Find out how she wrote a part memoir and part guide on battling mental health

Aparna Piramal Raje has been speaking out about her bipolarity and the stigma around mental illnesses in India for over 10 years. She chats with Tara and Michelle about her revealing and vulnerable book, “Chemical Khichdi: How I Hack My Mental Health”. What was her thought process behind writing the book? Why is balancing work and mental health so important for Aparna? Did the book get the response she expected? Tune in to find out!

Books & movies mentioned in this episode:**

Counting sheep
Mountain Tails
Burn Rate: Launching a Startup and Losing My Mind
The Big Home
How to Travel Light: My Memories of Madness and Melancholia
Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction
Beautiful Boy (film)
A Beautiful Mind

If you live, eat and breathe books, subscribe to Books and Beyond!

The Book People is Bound's video podcast where we demystify the book world, tell you how to get published and find other opportunities for writers in India today. Tune in for conversations with commissioning editors, book-to-screen agents, heads of OTT platforms, book marketers, and more.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5QW6APWu0BnV6f1HBQecSC
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1558134258
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXsVjEAmcMifC59mItXuw

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Find out how romance is depicted throughout Indian Mythology!

Ashok Banker makes Tara and Michelle travel through centuries as they talk about his book “Epic Loves: Stories From the Adi Parva of the Mahabharata”. A book which finds love within the epic war of Mahabharata. Find out how love has transformed in our mythology throughout centuries. If all the mythological stories are written by men, can we avoid male gaze and misogyny? Whilst retelling the epics, how can you be true to the original text and bring along your own spin to it? And… are there any LGBTQ+ characters in the epic of Mahabharata? Tune in to find out!

Books & movies mentioned in this episode:

Amar Chitra
Stephen King
Ponyo by Ghibli studio
Joseph and his brothers by Thomas Mann
Harry Potter
Lord of the Rings

If you live, eat and breathe books, subscribe to Books and Beyond!

The Book People is Bound's video podcast where we demystify the book world, tell you how to get published and find other opportunities for writers in India today. Tune in for conversations with commissioning editors, book-to-screen agents, heads of OTT platforms, book marketers, and more.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5QW6APWu0BnV6f1HBQecSC
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1558134258
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXsVjEAmcMifC59mItXuw

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Find out how to write a self help book and start an open discussion about sex!

Leeza Mangaldas talks to Tara and Michelle about sex and how the cultural shock of this Indian taboo compelled her to write her book “The Sex Book: A Joyful Journey of Self-discovery”. A book that strikes a conversation about sex. Find out how to make your protagonist relatable to the reader without revealing their true identity? How not to make a self help book sound preachy? How does she reach Indian youth and educate them about sex, as a content creator and writer? Tune in to find out!

Books & movies mentioned in this episode:

Come as You Are
Sex Education
Cyber sexy
The tragedy of heterosexuality
detransition baby
Besharam
The Handmaid's Tale

If you live, eat and breathe books, subscribe to Books and Beyond!

The Book People is Bound's video podcast where we demystify the book world, tell you how to get published and find other opportunities for writers in India today. Tune in for conversations with commissioning editors, book-to-screen agents, heads of OTT platforms, book marketers, and more.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5QW6APWu0BnV6f1HBQecSC
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1558134258
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXsVjEAmcMifC59mItXuw

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Find out how to write a gripping novel as a journalist which makes the readers question the institution of marriage!

Mansi Choksi takes Tara and Michelle through her journey of writing her book “The Newlyweds: Rearranging Marriage in Modern India”, a book not just on love and stakes of love, but a reflection of rural and modern divide. How to write a thrilling investigative nonfiction? How did she meet her protagonists and gain their trust to share such a sensitive topic? How did she maintain the composure of an observer and a documenter, a fly on the wall? Tune in to find out!

Books & movies mentioned in this episode:

Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai
Manoj and Babli: A Hate Story
Behind the Beautiful Forevers
A Fine Balance
A Life Of Adventure And Delight.
No Good Men Among The Living
Women's Work

If you live, eat and breathe books, subscribe to Books and Beyond!

The Book People is Bound's video podcast where we demystify the book world, tell you how to get published and find other opportunities for writers in India today. Tune in for conversations with commissioning editors, book-to-screen agents, heads of OTT platforms, book marketers, and more.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5QW6APWu0BnV6f1HBQecSC
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1558134258
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXsVjEAmcMifC59mItXuw

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Find out what goes on behind writing a Booker prize winning book which makes fun of politics and death!

Shehan Karunatilaka talks with Tara and Michelle about his experience of writing the Booker prize winning “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida”, which at first struggled to find a publisher. How to write a book in a second person narrative? Why should you never be afraid of a lousy first draft? What kind of books do the booker prize judges prefer? Tune in to find out!

Books mentioned in this episode:

Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction
The Blind Assassin
Ishiguro Neverland
Cloud Atlas
Maps Of Our Spectacular Bodies
Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew
The Birth Lottery
Bright Lights Big City
Case Of Exploding Mangoes

If you live, eat and breathe books, subscribe to Books and Beyond!

The Book People is Bound's video podcast where we demystify the book world, tell you how to get published and find other opportunities for writers in India today. Tune in for conversations with commissioning editors, book-to-screen agents, heads of OTT platforms, book marketers, and more.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5QW6APWu0BnV6f1HBQecSC
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1558134258
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXsVjEAmcMifC59mItXuw

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Find out what goes on behind writing a gender defying book on dating!

Aniruddha Mahale took Tara and Michelle through his dating and writing journey as a part of the LGBTQ+ community as they talk about his first book “GET OUT: The Gay Man’s Guide to Coming Out and Going Out”. How to write a straight girl friendly, gay dating guide? Did he face any backlash for the book? Did he go out on dates solely to get material for the book?

Books & movies mentioned in this episode:

Archies Comics
Famous Five
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Sex and the City

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

If you live, eat and breathe books, subscribe to Books and Beyond!

The Book People is Bound's video podcast where we demystify the book world, tell you how to get published and find other opportunities for writers in India today. Tune in for conversations with commissioning editors, book-to-screen agents, heads of OTT platforms, book marketers, and more.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5QW6APWu0BnV6f1HBQecSC
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1558134258
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXsVjEAmcMifC59mItXuw

Tune in to Bound's brand new podcast Rumors: Dark Lore From India, where we combine history, horror, folklore, and true crime to bring you thrilling stories from the deepest and darkest corners of South Asia.
Spotify: https://buff.ly/3sxTKDl
Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3sSz8Gh

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Find out to what extent an author can go in the name of a story, and is it all really worth it?

Let’s take off season 5 with Tara and Michelle, and dive into thrilling adventures and life changing experiences authors have put themselves through in order to write a book.

Some books have jaw dropping stories in them, and some have even more, if not as much, shocking backstories to them. Do writers go out there to unconventional locations and do research through unconventional ways? How much research does it require to write a fiction book? And…what’s the craziest thing Michelle has done for a story? Tune in to find out!

Books mentioned in this episode:

To Kill a Mockingbird
On The Road
Truck De India
Why Men Rape
The Good Girls: An Ordinary Killing
Shadow City: A Woman Walks Kabul
The Bad Boys of Bokaro Jail
The Newlyweds: Rearranging Marriage in Modern India
Remnants of a separation

If you live, eat and breathe books, subscribe to Books and Beyond!

The Book People is Bound's video podcast where we demystify the book world, tell you how to get published and find other opportunities for writers in India today. Tune in for conversations with commissioning editors, book-to-screen agents, heads of OTT platforms, book marketers, and more.
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‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

**Tara is on the scene at Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest 2022 as the official podcast partner!

She speaks to Arjun Gaind. He is one of India’s leading comic book writers and graphic novelists. He has many critically acclaimed best-sellers under his name like ‘Empire Of Blood’ and ‘Reincarnation Man’. His latest book, ‘The Anatomy Of Loss’ has been published by Bloomsbury and is a novel set against the backdrop of the Operation Blue Star of 1984.**

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

Produced by Aishwarya Javalgekar
Sound Edit and Mix by Kshitij Jadhav

Tara is on the scene at Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest 2022 as the official podcast partner! She speaks to veteran journalist and author Sudha Menon on her latest book ‘Recipes For Life’ and the plethora of stories that surround food and culture.

Sudha Menon is an author, journalist, writing coach and motivational speaker. She has been a journalist for over 20 years with The Independent, The Hindu and Mint. She has authored 6 non-fiction books and they have been translated into several Indian languages Marathi, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Tamil.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

Sound Edit and Mix: Kshitij Jadhav

Tara is on the scene at Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest 2022 as the official podcast partner! She speaks to Hannah Lalhlanpuii about her latest book ‘When Blackbirds Fly’ and the history of the north-eastern state of Mizoram.

Hannah Lalhlanpuii is a short story writer, poet and a PhD research scholar from Mizoram. Her debut novel, When Blackbirds Fly, published in 2022, talks about the two-decade long struggle of independence for Mizoram.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

Sound Edit and Mix: Kshitij Jadhav

Tara is on the scene at Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest 2022 as the official podcast partner! She speaks to Sundeep Waslekar, a thought leader on global conflict resolution, about the future of nuclear warfare and importance of universal peace.

Sundeep Waslekar is the President of Strategic Foresight Group, an international think tank on global future and conflict resolution. He has also authored successful books like ‘A World Without War’ (HarperCollins 2022) and the Marathi bestseller ‘Eka Dishecha Shodh’, which was translated in multiple Indian languages and has had over 23 editions.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

Sound Edit and Mix: Kshitij Jadhav

Tara is on the scene at Tata Literature Live Festival 2022 as the official podcast partner! She speaks to the prolific writer and poet Jerry Pinto about memories, writing and his love for the city of Mumbai.

Jerry Pinto is a poet, novelist, short story writer, translator and journalist based out of Mumbai. He is the recipient of the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 2016 for his debut novel ‘Em and the Big Hoom.’ He was won the Best Book on Cinema Award at the 54th National Film Awards for his book ‘Helen: The Life and Time of an H-Bomb.’

Book Mentions:
Tahan by Sadanand Deshmukh
Land, Guns, Caste, Woman by Geeta Ramaswamy

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

Find out where they stand on this long pertaining question about the correlation between winning literary prizes and getting more visibility and sales!

Tara and Michelle talk about the literary prizes that they follow religiously and whether these prizes affect the books they end up reading. What kind of books generally get selected for these prizes? How can a writer send their books for these prizes? How do you truly define the “success” of a book? Tune in to find out!

Tara Khandelwal is an editor and the founder of Bound. Michelle D’costa’s poetry and prose has been published in over 50 literary journals.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Discover the fascinating world of advertising as she takes us through a nostalgia-filled ride!

Tara and Michelle chat with Ritu Singh on what makes her book “A History of Indian Advertising in Ten-and-a-Half Chapters” such an insightful and entertaining read. What went behind writing some of India’s most memorable ads? What were the ads that left an impression on Tara and Michelle while growing up?Why was Ritu told on the first day of her job that anyone who has made it big in the advertising industry has atleast one divorce behind them? Tune in to listen to some brilliant stories about the history of India's best ads!

If exploring unique cultures, food and people is your forte, listen to Susegad Stories From Goa! A Goa Podcast that explores Goa beyond its beaches. Listen now:

Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3kERMwV

Spotify: https://buff.ly/384pQQn

Ritu Singh has been a prominent figure in the Indian advertising industry for many years now. She has worked with J. Walter Thompson India and the Times of India group. She is the creative brains behind some of India’s best ads and has written for companies like Pizza Hut and Pepsi.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is a podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

Find out how she compiled 45 personalised essays by prominent writers, animal welfare activists and individuals with unique voices.

Tara chats with Hemali Sodhi on what makes her book “The Book of Dog” such a wholesome and emotional read. Hemali Sodhi talks about how being a dog parent transformed her into looking at the world differently and motivated her to produce this anthology. How did she find the right proportion of essays to be put up by writers and by activists? What makes every essay so authentic and heartwarming? And what can we do in order to reciprocate our love for dogs? Tune in to listen to some beautiful stories about dogs!

If exploring unique cultures, food and people is your forte, listen to Susegad Stories From Goa! A Goa Podcast that explores Goa beyond its beaches. Listen now:

Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3kERMwV
Spotify: https://buff.ly/384pQQn

Hemali Sodhi is the founder of A Suitable Agency, an organization that advises writers on their corporate communication and brand strategy. She also heads the communication department at the Centre for Policy Research, a Delhi-based think tank and consults with the New India Foundation. She also supports several animal welfare organizations. She lives in Gurgaon.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is a podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

Find out how she writes about the famous detective writer helping an Indian Parsee man who was wrongfully convicted of murder.

Tara and Michelle chat with Shrabani Basu on how she attempts to give a complete perspective to the George Edalji case in her latest book “The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer”. Shrabani Basu talks about how an auction of a series of letters exchanged between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Chief of Police of Staffordshire led her to start this book. What was so special about this case that made the famous novelist investigate it personally? How did he help save a man who was falsely convicted of murder? What are some fascinating aspects about the writer’s life that we aren’t privy to? Tune in to find more about the thrilling case of George Edalji!

If exploring unique cultures, food and people is your forte, listen to Susegad Stories From Goa! A Goa Podcast that explores Goa beyond its beaches. Listen now:

Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3kERMwV
Spotify: https://buff.ly/384pQQn

Shrabani Basu is an author and a journalist. She was born in Kolkata and grew up in Dhaka, Kathmandu and Delhi. Her career in journalism started in 1983, when she became a trainee journalist for The Times of India in Mumbai. She has authored several popular books including Victoria & Abdul: The Extraordinary True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant and Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is a podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

Find out what makes Kerala unique as a travel destination AND a state.

Tara and Michelle chat with Anjana Menon about how she uses humour to talk about the larger problems of Kerala in her latest book "Onam in a Nightie: Stories from a Kerala Quarantine". How did she manage to find humour in the mundane, especially during the lockdown? Why does Tara think it’s different from a conventional travel book? How did a Facebook blog turn into a full blown novel? Tune in to find more about Kerala’s culture, food and amazing people!

If exploring unique cultures, food and people is your forte, listen to Susegad Stories From Goa! A Goa Podcast that explores Goa beyond its beaches. Listen now:

Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3kERMwV
Spotify: https://buff.ly/384pQQn

Anjana Menon pursued journalism with Bloomberg News. After which she became a founder-editor at Mint, and ended up running her own TV newsroom. Later on, she set up her own content strategy consultancy and co-authored "What's Your Story? The Essential Business Storytelling Handbook". She divides her time living in Delhi and London.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is a podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

Find out how she dissects the desires and realities of young women in India through 'Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh'

Tara has a new co-host for this episode: Aishwarya Javalgekar, the producer of this podcast and the Head of Content and Podcasts at Bound. Tara loves economics. Aishwarya loves Shah Rukh Khan. These 2 minds come together to dive into the crux of her research and writing process. How does she break down love in economic terms? Why does she want men to read this book? How did she separate her love for Shah Rukh from her research? Tune in to find out!

Shrayana Bhattacharya trained in development economics at Delhi University and Harvard University. Since 2014, in her role as an economist at a multilateral development bank, she has focused on issues related to social policy and jobs. Prior to this, she worked on research projects with the Centre for Policy Research, SEWA Union and Institute of Social Studies Trust. Her writing has appeared in the Indian Express, EPW, Indian Quarterly and The Caravan. She lives in New Delhi.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

We have launched a new podcast! Explore Goa beyond the beaches and uncover its unique culture and lifestyle in 'Susegad Stories From Goa'. Listen now:

Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/3kERMwV
Spotify: https://buff.ly/384pQQn

Find out where they stand on this ongoing debate that has haunted bookworms and storytellers for years!

Tara and Michelle name their most and least favourite adaptations and dive into their preferred genres and formats. Michelle thinks literary fiction can definitely lead to fantastic adaptations! Tara likes to lose herself in historical stories. What makes an adaptation good or bad? How do stories change in written vs audio vs video formats? How can writers try out all of them? Tune in to find out!

This episode has been recorded in person. See the video version on YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/M8j9r0e5OKA

Tara Khandelwal is an editor and the founder of Bound. Michelle D’costa’s poetry and prose has been published in over 50 literary journals. 'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

Find out how he dives into the lives and minds of writers through his hyper-real books.

Tara and Michelle chat with Amitava about his latest books ‘A Blue Book’ and ‘A Time Outside This Time’. Amitava shares how one book became the material for another. Michelle loves that his characters are mostly writers (and migrants). How did writing help him survive the pandemic? How much of his writing is based on real life experiences? What does he think about writing residencies? Tune in to find out!

Amitava Kumar is the author of several books of non-fiction and three novels. His work has appeared in Granta, the New York Times, Harper's, and several other publications. He has been awarded a Guggenheim fellowship and residencies from Yaddo, MacDowell and the Lannan Foundation. His novel Immigrant, Montana was on the Best of the Year lists at the New Yorker, the New York Times, and Barack Obama's list of favorite books of 2018. He is professor of English at Vassar College in upstate New York.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

We know how important visibility is in this content boom age! We offer book marketing services for books that we feel strongly about. More details here: https://pdfhost.io/v/n12mxMGvL_Bound_Book_Marketing

Find out how she covers and critiques films from different eras in her book.

Anupama Chopra of Film Companion takes Tara and Michelle through the sets of some of the biggest blockbusters in film history as they chat about her latest book ‘A Place In My Heart’. How did she get into films? How is she able to review films without biases? What tips and techniques can writers learn from cinema? Tune in to find out!

Anupama Chopra is a film critic, journalist and National Award-winning author. She is chairperson of the Film Critics Guild and director of the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. She has covered cinema since 1993, across multiple mediums-print, television and digital. She has authored several books, including King of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema, which featured on the Editors' Choice list of The New York Times Sunday Book Review and has been translated into German, Indonesian and Polish.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

We know how important visibility is in this content boom age! We offer book marketing services for books that we feel strongly about. More details here: https://pdfhost.io/v/n12mxMGvL_Bound_Book_Marketing

Find out the secrets behind researching and writing prehistoric narratives.

Tony shares why he decided to write this book and where he found pre-historic sources during his research. Tara is a huge prehistory buff! Michelle loves how he combines history with genetics, and other fields like archaeology, linguistics, and philology. What era would Tony like to go to? What does migration have to do with our ancestry? What does it really mean to be “Indian”? Tune in to find out!

Tony Joseph, former editor of Businessworld, has been a columnist and contributor to leading newspapers and magazines.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

If you want to write exceptional non-fiction, Tara has a few mentorship slots available for this year. Email her at tarakhandelwal489@gmail.com with your ideas and what you are looking for.

Find out how she walked through Kabul for 8 years for her part-memoir and part-travel guide.

Taran shares how she picked the angle of being a flaneur - someone who explores a place on foot - for her book, Shadow City. And how she navigated the streets as an Indian woman. Tara loves women's travel accounts! Michelle loves how the book covers interesting details about Persian culture, music and poetry. Did she face restrictions as a woman traveller? How different is Kabul from an Indian city? Why does Taran write about libraries and graveyards? Tune in to find out!

Taran N. Khan is a journalist and author based in Mumbai. Her works have been widely published in India and internationally, including in Guernica, Al Jazeera, the Caravan and Himal Southasian. Her writing has also received support from the MacDowell fellowship, the Jan Michalski Foundation for Writing and Literature, and the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, among others. From 2006 to 2013, Khan spent long periods living and working in Kabul.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

If you want to write exceptional non-fiction, Tara has a few mentorship slots available for this year. Email her at tarakhandelwal489@gmail.com with your ideas and what you are looking for.

Find out why we love stories of serial killers and con artists.Check out the video version on YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/UyQiH-Ota6I

Tara and Michelle finally meet in person to dissect why villains and antagonists have grown in popularity across fiction, nonfiction, books, movies and podcasts. Michelle wants to understand the motivations of serial killers. Tara is inspired by con men and women! Who are their favourite villains? How has the representation changed over time? Why are they so irresistible? Tune in to find out!

Tara Khandelwal is an editor and the founder of Bound. Michelle D’costa’s poetry and prose has been published in over 50 literary journals. 'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

Find out how she reimagines the urban legends from India’s college campuses in her short story collection.

Chandrima tells Tara and Michelle why she loves the genre of horror and how she is influenced by folklore and Stephen King. She shares her journey from self-publishing to being commissioned to write a horror short story collection. What makes a good horror story? How did she research and unpack these urban legends? What is her deepest darkest fear? Tune in for some great horror writing tips and book / podcast recommendations.

BONUS: A horror special section where Chandrima and Aishwarya Javalgekar (host of The Book People and editor of this book) dissect the horror genre together.

Chandrima Das has a B.Tech in Computer Science from NIT Durgapur and an MBA from IIM Calcutta. After a decade-long career in management consulting, she followed her passion for writing. Her digital debut The Talking Dead was a bestseller in the horror category. She's performed live at storytelling events with Tall Tales and Kommune, and was published in The Best Of Tall Tales.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

Let's create a podcast together! Pitch your idea to Aishwarya, our Head of Content and Podcasts. Email your podcast concept, category/genre, type and duration, any similar podcasts and what sets your idea apart to aishwarya.boundindia@gmail.com.

Find out how she covers contemporary Pakistan in her debut short story collection.

Mira shares why she is fascinated by identity and how regular people live their lives in Pakistan. Tara and Michelle love how she moved from one character to another with finesse. Michelle’s favourite character is Marianne, the American diplomat who lives a secret life in Pakistan. Did Mira write 30 drafts to get this character right? How did Mohsin Hamid blurb the book? What is she working on next? Tune in to find out!

Mira Sethi is an actor and a writer. She grew up in Lahore and attended Wellesley College, after which Sethi worked as a books editor at The Wall Street Journal. Sethi regularly appears in mainstream Pakistani drama series on television. She lives in Lahore, Karachi, and San Francisco.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

Let's create a podcast together! Pitch your idea to Aishwarya, our Head of Content and Podcasts. Email your podcast concept, category/genre, type and duration, any similar podcasts and what sets your idea apart to aishwarya.boundindia@gmail.com.

Find out how he decodes Indian cooking habits and recipes with food science.

Krish shares how he spoke to different people from food scientists to grandmothers for his book, Masala Lab. He busts the most popular myths around food and nutrition. What is the science behind our oldest food recipes? Why are pressure cookers scary? Do we really need to avoid microwaves? Is healthy eating a lie? Tune in to find out!

Krish Ashok is not a chef but cooks daily. He is not a scientist, but he can explain science with easy-to-understand clarity. He trained to be an electronic engineer but is now a software engineer. He learnt to cook from the women in his family, who can make the perfectly fluffy idli without lecturing people on lactobacilli and pH levels. When he is not cooking, he's usually playing subversive music on the violin or cello.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

Find out how she turns herself into a 5 year old to write children's books.

Sudha Murty talks about her writing journey and why she has opened so many libraries throughout India.Why is it important for children to develop a reading habit? Have her grandchildren inspired her books? Will she go digital? Catch Tara and Michelle relive their childhoods and get lots of tips on writing for children. Includes fan questions as well!

Sudha Murty was born in 1950 in Shiggaon in north Karnataka. She did her MTech in computer science, and is now the chairperson of the Infosys Foundation. A prolific writer in English and Kannada, she has written novels, technical books, travelogues, collections of short stories and non-fictional pieces, and four books for children. Her books have been translated into all the major Indian languages. Sudha Murty was the recipient of the R.K. Narayan Award for Literature and the Padma Shri in 2006, and the Attimabbe Award from the government of Karnataka for excellence in Kannada literature in 2011.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

Tara and Michelle discuss what migration means to them and what kind of stories are missing from the migration narrative.From partition to season migrants, from traveling abroad for higher education to migrating to the Gulf, the typical migration story focuses on moving to another place for a better life and how difficult it is to make it there.

Does every migration story focus on struggle? What are the stories and experiences left unrepresented? Who are the best people to tell these stories? Can we change the way we see migration? Tune in for a riveting conversation!

Have you read these famous migration stories?

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Americanah by Chimamanda Adichie
The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota

Tara Khandelwal is an editor and the founder of Bound. Michelle D’costa’s poetry and prose has been published in over 50 literary journals. 'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Follow us @boundindia on all social media.

Find out what it means to write a ‘feminist romance’ and what differentiates it from a typical romance novel.

Tara and Michelle chat with Riva about why she set her debut novel ‘Arzu’ in the 90s liberalization era and explored the socio-economic backgrounds of her characters. Riva explains why she wanted to explore the mind of a ‘working woman’ and what kind of research was required to get the nuances of the story. Why does she call her book a feminist romance? How did she come up with the three love interests? And has her background in films influenced her writing? Dive into the glitzy glam world of industrialists, foreign education, journalism, parties and more.

Riva Razdan is a recent graduate of New York University, where she studied under novelists Tishani Doshi (The Pleasure Seekers) and Miguel Syjuco (Ilustrado). She has studied storytelling in Paris, Florence, Abu Dhabi and New York. She currently resides in Mumbai and is a screenwriter for Anil Kapoor Films. Read her book.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Brought to you by Bound.

This episode has 2 questions sponsored by Penguin Random House India. Check out their 2 recent releases:

Tell Me How To Be by Neel Patel
Karnali Blues by Buddhisagar

Our mentorship offer ends on March 1st 2022. Use the code BOUNDMENTEE2022 to get a 10% discount on our three month mentorship program.

Arzu

Find out how she became an expert of romance and relationships through her romance books and podcast.

Tara and Michelle chat with Aastha about why India and Bollywood are obsessed with love! Aastha shares her experience of creating the Love Aaj Kal podcast and why she decided to write a dating guide, ‘The L-word’. Has the dating scene changed drastically since the 90s? How did she finish writing the book in a month? What were the reactions of love birds on reading her book? Tune in to find out!

Aastha Atray Banan has been a journalist for 19 years and is currently the editor of Sunday Midday. She has previously published four romance fiction books, and this is her first non-fiction. Aastha wears many more hats other than being a writer; she has a hit podcast 'Love Aaj Kal' on Spotify India which deals with relationships and love and has also written and released four original songs. Read her book: https://www.amazon.in/L-word-Love-Lust-Everything-Between/dp/9354224768/

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Brought to you by Bound. Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

We have limited mentorship slots open! Use the discount code BOUNDMENTEE2022 to get a 10% discount on our 3 month mentorship program. Offer ends on March 1st 2022.

The L-word: Love, Lust and Everything In-Between

Find out how she presents the experiences and rigorous training that women go through in her latest army book.

In this Editor Special episode, Tara chats with Tanushree about her experiences as an ‘army wife’ and how she developed the characters of Billi, Lakme, Shiny and Nutty. Tanushree shares why discipline is such an important part of training in the army. Tara shares her thoughts while editing Tanushree’s book and they discuss the dynamics of the writer-editor relationship.

Soon to be a major web series!

Born in New Delhi, Tanushree Podder worked in the corporate sector for eight long years before she quit the rat race to write. Over the years, she has penned eleven novels. Two of her books, Boots Belts Berets and The Girls in Green are soon going to be adapted into web series. She lives with her husband in Pune. Read her book: https://www.amazon.in/Girls-Green-Soon-major-web/dp/9390252814

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Brought to you by Bound. Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

We have limited mentorship slots open! Use the discount code BOUNDMENTEE2022 to get a 10% discount on our three month mentorship program. Offer ends on March 1st 2022. More details here: https://boundindia.com/events/writing-mentorship/

The Girls in Green

Find out why she decided to explore male friendship and class differences in her debut novel.

Tara and Michelle chat with Shivani about how she chose the title ‘Equations’ and the challenge of diving into the minds of male characters. She shares her experience of growing up around literary women like Namita Gokhale and Meru Gokhale. Does Indian fiction need more stories about class? How did she finish this book by writing 200 words a day? Tune in to find out.

Mentions:

City of Djinns by William Dalrymple
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
India: A Portrait by Patrick French
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
Caste Matters by Yengde Suraj
A Rude Life by Vir Sanghvi
The Harper House

Shivani Sibal was born and brought up in New Delhi, where she continues to live with her husband and daughters. Read her book: https://www.amazon.in/Equations-Shivani-Sibal/dp/9354227570

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Brought to you by Bound. Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

We have limited mentorship slots open! Use the discount code BOUNDMENTEE2022 to get a 10% discount on our three month mentorship program. Offer ends on March 1st 2022. More details here: https://boundindia.com/events/writing-mentorship/

Equations

Find out how she sheds light on the lost stories of extraordinary women in medicine in her non-fiction book.Tara and Michelle chat with Kavitha Rao about her research process - piecing together information through letters and memoirs - and how she chose which women to feature in the book. They discuss the role of sensitivity readers and why writing nonfiction is so expensive. Why did she decide to write this book? Which women doctors inspired her the most? Why is she obsessed with publishing? Tune in to find out.

Book Mentions:

Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong by Angela Saini
Rivers Remember: The Shocking Truth of a Manmade Flood by Krupa Ge
The Queen's Last Salute by Moupia Basu
Stet: An Editor's Life by Diana Athill
Another Life: A Memoir of Other People by Michael Korda
The Bestseller by Olivia Goldsmith
Listen to Me by Shashi Deshpande

Kavitha Rao is a freelance journalist and writer. She lives in Bengaluru. Kavitha has spoken at numerous literary fests, including The Times Lit Fest in Bengaluru, the Tata Lit Fest in Mumbai, and the Kasauli Lit Fest. She has also taught journalism at several colleges including the Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media in Bangalore, Sophia College in Mumbai, and the Times College of Journalism in Mumbai. Read her book: https://www.amazon.in/Lady-Doctors-Untold-Stories-Medicine/dp/9390679052/

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Brought to you by Bound. Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

We have limited mentorship slots open! Use the discount code BOUNDMENTEE2022 to get a 10% discount on our three month mentorship program. Offer ends on March 1st 2022. More details here: https://boundindia.com/events/writing-mentorship/

Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India's First Women in Medicine

Find out how he revolutionizes the way we write about the environment, starting with the story of the nutmeg!In this special episode, Tara and Michelle dissect the work of award-winning author Amitav Ghosh and chat with him about his latest book “The Nutmeg’s Curse”.

Amitav Ghosh says, “climate change is a form of ecological violence.” He shares his research process and his inspirations: from Mahasweta Devi to Herman Melville. How is writing about climate change different in fiction and nonfiction? How did Tara meet Amitav when she was 13 years old? What is he writing about next? Tune in to meet the man behind the legend!

Indian authors who write about nature and the environment:

Jahnavi Barua
Shubhangi Swaroop
Janaki Lenin
Sumana Roy
Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar

Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta and grew up in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. He studied at the universities of Delhi and Oxford, has taught at a number of institutions and written for many magazines. The first novel in the Ibis trilogy, Sea of Poppies, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2008. In 2015, Amitav Ghosh was named as a finalist of the Man Booker International Prize. Read his latest book: https://www.amazon.in/Nutmegs-Curse-Amitav-Ghosh/dp/1529369436

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Brought to you by Bound. Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

Join our Whatsapp communities:
PodSquad: https://chat.whatsapp.com/H853OktwN6X0tx4o6aBOTQ
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The Nutmeg's Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis

Find out how women are represented in Indian books and films today.

Kick off season 4 with a deep dive into gender and representation with Tara and Michelle! They share their favourite books and movies, and discuss what is considered problematic and what is considered inclusive today. Do our childhood favourites like Harry Potter stand the test of time? Can authors create believable characters of the opposite gender? How relevant is the Bechdel Test today?

The Bechdel Test was created by American cartoonist Alison Bechdel in 1985. A book / film needs to have 3 things to pass the Bechdel Test:

There are at least two women characters
These women talk to each other
They discuss something other than a man

Do your favourite books and movies pass this test?

BONUS SEGMENT: A chat with one of our biggest fans, Surabhi Geetey!

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Brought to you by Bound. Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

Tara Khandelwal is an editor and the founder of Bound. Michelle D’costa’s poetry and prose has been published in over 50 literary journals.

Join our Whatsapp communities:

PodSquad: https://chat.whatsapp.com/H853OktwN6X0tx4o6aBOTQ
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Tara and Michelle reconnect with Manu Pillai about writing and publishing his latest book, ‘False Allies’ during the pandemic.

Manu explains how and why he used Raja Ravi Varma’s art to direct his research. And how this book is structured much differently than his previous works. He takes Tara and Michelle deep into the world of empowerment and political intrigue with the story of Jamnabai. Were Indian royals (especially women) as easily manipulated by the British as we thought? Did the pandemic affect his writing? Should Manu start his own podcast? Tune in to join these discussions and more!

Book Mentions:

Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh by Shrayana Bhattacharya
The Begum and the Dastan by Tarana Husain Khan
The Nutmeg’s Curse by Amitav Ghosh
The Last Queen by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

For a more in-depth conversation about Manu’s writing process and previous books, tune in to Episode 1.1.

Manu S. Pillai is the author of the critically acclaimed The Ivory Throne (2015), Rebel Sultans (2018) and The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin (2019). Formerly chief of staff to Shashi Tharoor MP, he is also a winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar (2017). His essays and writings on history have appeared in Mint Lounge, The Hindu, Hindustan Times, Open, New Statesman and other publications. Read his latest book: https://www.amazon.in/FALSE-ALLIES-Indias-Maharajahs-Varma/dp/9391165893

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Now trending in 27 countries! Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

False Allies: India'S Maharajahs In The Age Of Ravi Varma

In this season finale, Tara and Michelle talk about cancel culture, trigger warnings, and their favourite season 3 episodes.

From Lolita to Friends to Harry Potter, Tara and Michelle discuss the question of problematic stories and their implications in today’s society. They talk about their favourite childhood stories (P.S. they involve animals) and the importance of telling and highlighting untold stories. Why has sensitivity reading become important? Does political correctness hamper creativity?

Can art be separated from the artist? Tune in as we tackle these tough questions and many more!

We’re creating a community of podcast lovers in India! Click here to join the #PodSquad: https://chat.whatsapp.com/H853OktwN6X0tx4o6aBOTQ

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Now trending in 12 countries! Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

Tara Khandelwal is an editor and the founder of Bound. Check out her latest newsletter - https://tara489.substack.com

Michelle D’costa’s poetry and prose has been published in over 50 literary journals. Check out her latest newsletter - https://michelledcosta.substack.com/

Find out how she explores masculinity in India through the coming of age story of 3 brothers in her book, ‘The Anger of Saintly Men’.

Anubha shares how she came up with the idea of writing about the tale of three brothers in Haryana and how it was challenging to write a fiction book that comments on caste and sexuality in India. Michelle loves how she uses Mahatma Gandhi to show the contradiction in male gender norms. Tara loves the experimental structure of the book. Why did she decide to write a story from the male perspective? How did she write the difficult scenes in her book? Was Hindi an important part of the book? Tune in to find out!

We’re creating a community of podcast lovers in India! Click here to join the #PodSquad: https://chat.whatsapp.com/H853OktwN6X0tx4o6aBOTQ

Anubha Yadav is a writer, academic, film-maker based in New Delhi, India. She teaches media studies at Delhi University. When not in a classroom, she would rather write stories. ‘The Anger of Saintly Men’ is her second book. Find the book here: https://www.amazon.in/Anger-Saintly-Anubha-Yadav-Fiction/dp/8194511313/

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Now trending in 12 countries! Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

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Find out how she brings animal science and wildlife conversation to life in her latest book, ‘Every Creature Has a Story’.

Janaki talks about how she accidentally got into wildlife research and how she wrote the book to bring the wilderness stories into people’s homes. She talks about her relationship with an editor and how a great editor can push a writer to develop their craft. Tara loves finding out so many facts about animals that she didn’t know before. Michelle thinks it’s important to talk about wildlife conservation, since she also lives near mangroves in Mumbai. They talk about the fascinating giraffes, octopi and other

We’re creating a community of podcast lovers in India! Click here to join the #PodSquad: https://chat.whatsapp.com/H853OktwN6X0tx4o6aBOTQ

Contest Alert! Follow us @boundindia and DM us on Instagram with the name of your favourite podcast to get a half an hour session with Tara.

A city girl gone feral, Janaki Lenin is the author of two volumes of My Husband and Other Animals. Her latest is Every Creature Has a Story. She writes on a wide range of wildlife and conservation subjects for newspapers and magazines. She and her human partner share their home on the outskirts of Mysore with numerous pets and free-ranging wild creatures.

Find the book here: https://www.amazon.in/Every-Creature-Has-Story-Behaviour/dp/9353578604/

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Now trending in 12 countries! Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

Every Creature Has a Story: What Science Reveals about Animal Behaviour

Find out how she uses objects to uncover untold stories about the Partition for her book, ‘Remnants of a Separation’.

Aanchal shares her family’s history with partition and why she decided to use objects to ask people about sensitive and traumatic memories. She discusses her experience of interviewing people in Pakistan and how her guide Khizarji helped her navigate difficult interviews. Tara can relate to Aanchal due to her own partition family history. And Michelle appreciates how Aanchal is so transparent about the difficulties in the research process.

Why can’t Aanchal write in cafes? What languages does she speak and understand? And what is she writing next? Tune in to find out!

Want Aanchal to read your personal essay on the partition? Submit your personal essay (<1500 words) on ‘Memory of Partition’ to connect@boundindia.com by 4th September, 2021. Only Word Doc attachments will be considered. Aanchal’s favourite 3 essays will be published on our blog, Jotted.

We’re creating a community of podcast lovers in India! Click here to join the #PodSquad: https://chat.whatsapp.com/H853OktwN6X0tx4o6aBOTQ

Aanchal Malhotra is an artist and oral historian working with memory and material culture. She received a BFA in Traditional Printmaking and Art History from the Ontario College of Art & Design, Toronto, and an MFA in Studio Art from Concordia University, Montreal.

She currently lives in New Delhi. This is her first book. Find the book here: https://www.amazon.in/Remnants-Separation-History-Partition-Material/dp/9353022959/

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Now trending in 12 countries! Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

Follow us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Remnants of a Separation: A History of the Partition through Material Memory

Find out how she provides a glimpse into the experiences and challenges of growing up in war-torn Kashmir through her memoir, ‘Rumours Of Spring: A Girlhood In Kashmir’.

Farah tells us why she decided to write this book and how it was challenging to relive some painful memories. She talks about her grandmother, Bobeh, who was a strong female figure in her coming-of-age story and why she decided to structure the book around her death. Tara loves this as she’s also close to her grandmother! Michelle is moved by the vividness and intensity of some of the descriptions and scenes, like the absence of windows.

Why did Farah decide to write this memoir? What influences have shaped her writing identity? And how does she feel about childhood now? Tune in for a moving and revelatory episode.

Farah Bashir was born and raised in Kashmir. She was a former photojournalist with Reuters and currently works as a communications consultant. ‘Rumours of Spring’ is her first book. Find the book here: https://www.amazon.in/Rumours-Spring-Girlhood-Farah-Bashir/dp/9354224210

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Now trending in 12 countries! Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

Looking to write your dream memoir? We can help! Email us at connect@boundindia.com or DM us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

We’ve joined #PodForChange to raise donations for Covid relief. Donate here: www.auwa.in/podforchange

Rumours of Spring : A Girlhood in Kashmir

Find out how he uncovers the untold stories and troubled lives of Bollywood celebrities like Rajesh Khanna, Rekha, Sanjay Dutt and Guru Dutt in his biographies.

Yasser breaks down his research process - from approaching the celeb for interviews to going through old articles and talking to people who knew them well. He shares some interesting anecdotes about Rajesh Khanna and Rekha, and how the media only focused on certain parts of their lives. He also reveals how his interactions with Guru Dutt’s sister helped him survive the pandemic!

Tara loves learning more about the previous Bollywood era. Michelle loves how he delves into the lives of Bollywood celebs like we delve into the lives of authors! How did Yasser become a Bollywood biographer? How does he decide which celebs to research next? And what are his tips for young and aspiring biographers? Tune in to find out!

Book Recommendations:

The Kapoors: The First Family of Indian Cinema by Madhu Jain
Parveen Babi: A Life by Karishma Upadhyay
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Yasser Usman is an award-winning TV journalist and the author of four bestselling film biographies: Rajesh Khanna: The Untold Story of India’s First Superstar; Rekha: The Untold Story and Sanjay Dutt. His recent book is the critically acclaimed - Guru Dutt - An Unfinished Story. He has been a recipient of the prestigious Ramnath Goenka Award for excellence in journalism, Indian Telly Award, Red Ink award among many others.

Find the book here: https://www.amazon.in/Guru-Dutt-Unfinished-Yasser-Usman/dp/9386797887

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Now trending in 9 countries! Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

Create your own podcast with our 2 week masterclass! Details available here: https://boundindia.com/events/create-your-own-podcast-an-interactive-masterclass/

Check out our pathbreaking publishing podcast, ‘The Book People’: https://boundindia.com/the-book-people-podcast/

Find us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

We’ve joined #PodForChange to raise donations for Covid relief. Donate here: www.auwa.in/podforchange

Guru Dutt: An Unfinished Story

Find out how she captured the red-light district of Lahore and wrote a compelling and nuanced love story in her debut novel, ‘Skyfall’.

Saba shares how her writing is inspired by her father and why she decided to explore the exact opposite through the villainous father figure in her novel. She tells us why she made her main character Rania a tour guide to show women accessing public spaces.

Tara edited her book and knew it was going to be a bestseller. Michelle loves how Saba captures the love and friendship between the two countries. How did Saba include her own experiences in this story? Why did she ask her mother to read the book? What does the publishing industry in Pakistan look like? Tune in to find out!

Book Recommendations:

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein
Beautiful Thing by Sonia Faleiro

Saba Karim Khan holds a postgraduate [M.Phil] degree from Oxford University and currently teaches at New York University's international campus in Abu Dhabi. She has taught two creative writing courses and led four creative writing workshops for undergraduate MFA students. Her work has been published in The Huffington Post, DAWN, Express Tribune and ThinkProgress, Washington. She has also been commissioned to write the memoirs of a classical music artist in Pakistan, whose repertoire focuses on ghazals by Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Mirza Ghalib. Find the book here: https://www.amazon.in/Skyfall-Saba-Karim-Khan/dp/9390252385

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Now trending in 9 countries! Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

We can pitch your book to publishers! Send your manuscript and bio to connect@boundindia.com or DM us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

We’ve joined #PodForChange to raise donations for Covid relief. Donate here: www.auwa.in/podforchange

Skyfall

Find out how she captured her journey with infertility and years of medical research into her one-of-a-kind medical memoir, ‘What's a Lemon Squeezer Doing in My Vagina?'

Rohini shares her writing process: from storing all her medical documents to writing for 30 minutes at a time. She recounts how her brother acted as her sounding board and beta reader: convincing her to write this book as a memoir instead of a nonfiction how-to book. Tara loves how Rohini was able to cover such a taboo topic with depth and vulnerability. Michelle loves medical memoirs! How did she come up with this title? How did she come up with this title? How did her family feel about the book? And what does she plan to write next? Tune in to find out!

Book Recommendations:

Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala
Educated by Tara Westover
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Bottle of Lies by Katherine Eban
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou
The Small-Town Sea by Anees Salim

Rohini S. Rajagopal was leading a fairly humdrum life in Bangalore when an encounter with infertility stopped her in her tracks. In a temporary suspension of good sense, she quit her well-paying, flexible-hours job to write this book that narrates her journey from infertility to motherhood. But for her current penury, she has no regrets about that move. She has a master's degree in English (media and communication). Her special talents include fitting dishes inside overfilled refrigerators and taking three-hour-long afternoon naps without the slightest trace of guilt. You can find her on Instagram @rajagopal.rohini. Find the book here: https://www.amazon.in/Whats-Lemon-Squeezer-Doing-Vagina/dp/0143452002/

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Now trending in 9 countries! Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

Follow us If you need help starting your podcast, reach out to us at connect@boundindia.com or DM us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

We’ve joined #PodForChange to raise donations for Covid relief. Donate here: www.auwa.in/podforchange

What's a Lemon Squeezer Doing in My Vagina?

Tara talks to the talented Pakistani writer, Moni Mohsin, about how she uses social satire to comment on current events in her 2 bestselling books ‘The Diary of a Social Butterfly’ and ‘The Impeccable Integrity of Ruby R’.

Moni shares how the ‘metoo’ movement inspired her to write her latest politically charged novel. And how the male politician character is inspired by Trump and 1970s Amitabh Bachchan! Tara loves how her opening line, ‘Haww’, immediately drew the attention of publishers. How did she go from writing columns to books? Why does social media make her uncomfortable? How has the writing community in Pakistan supported her? Tune in to find out!

Authors Moni Loves: Kamila Shamsie, Mohsin Hamid, Mohammed Hanif, Daniyal Mueenuddin, Evelyn Waugh, Nancy Mitford, Elizabeth Taylor

Moni Mohsin was born and raised in Pakistan. She has written two novels, The End of Innocence and Tender Hooks aka Duty Free and two books of collected columns, The Diary of a Social Butterfly and The Return of the Butterfly. She now lives between London and Lahore.

Find the book here: https://www.amazon.in/Impeccable-Integrity-Ruby-R/dp/0670094315

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

Follow us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Reach out to us at connect@boundindia.com for more information on our editorial services.

We’ve joined #PodForChange to raise donations for Covid relief. Donate here: www.auwa.in/podforchange

The Impeccable Integrity of Ruby R. (previous title Better Days)

Tara and Michelle talk to bestselling Bengali author Anita Agnihotri and expert translator of 60+ books, Arunava Sinha, about their latest book ‘The Sickle’, the writer-translator relationship and the growing popularity of regional writing and translations in India.

In the last few years, translations are getting the attention they rightly deserve in India from readers and literary awards like the JCB prize. We chat with Anita about the plight of the women in the Marathwada region and how she decided to write about them in Bengali. Michelle is fascinated by how Anita picks up stories from all over the country through her work as an IAS officer. Arunava equates writing to choreographing a performance on a large stage and translation to doing the exact same steps on a tightrope! Tara is super excited by his prediction that translations will become very prominent in India in the next 5 years!

How have Anita’s books reached so many countries and readers? Why does Arunava translate from 10 pm to 1 am? Tune in to find out.

Want to get the translator's perspective first? Jump to 30:00 to listen to Arunava’s part of the interview.

Mentions:

Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh
Such Small Hands by Andrés Barba
Seventeen by Anita Agnihotri
Indira Goswami
Hiromi Kawakami, Mieko Kawakami, Sayaka Murata

Anita Agnihotri has published over thirty books and has won the Sarat Puraskar, the Pratibha Basu Sahitya Puraskar and the Bhuban Mohini Dasi Gold Medal. Her writing has been translated into several Indian languages and also German and Swedish. Her collection of stories, Seventeen, translated by Arunava Sinha, won the Economist Crossword Book Award for Indian Language Translation in 2011.

Arunava Sinha translates Bengali fiction, poetry and non-fiction into English, and fiction from other languages into Bengali. More than sixty of his translations have been published so far in India, the UK and the USA. He teaches Creative Writing at Ashoka University. Find the book here: https://www.amazon.in/Sickle-Anita-Agnihotri/dp/9353451566

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

Follow us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Reach out to us at connect@boundindia.com for more information on our podcast production services.

We’ve joined #PodForChange to raise donations for Covid relief. Donate here: www.auwa.in/podforchange

The Sickle

Tara and Michelle talk to Sonia Faleiro about how she investigated the death of 2 teen girls in UP for her latest narrative nonfiction bestseller, ‘The Good Girls’.

We’ve joined #PodForChange to raise donations for Covid relief. Donate here: www.auwa.in/podforchange

Sonia talks about what made her choose this particular case and how she 5 years writing about it! She shares interesting anecdotes about how she was able to get the villagers to share their stories by actively listening and asking questions that no one had asked them before. Michelle was deeply moved by Sonia’s concern for the girls. Tara is fascinated by how she wrote the book like a who-done-it!

How does she deal with the dangers of investigative journalism? Why does she choose narrative nonfiction? And what does she do to unwind? Tune in to find out!

Narrative Nonfiction Book Recommendations:

Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
American Fire by Monica Hesse

Sonia Faleiro is an award-winning writer and the author of three previous books. Her previous book Beautiful Thing was selected as an Observer, Economist, Guardian, San Francisco Chronicle, CNN, Time Out, NPR and Kirkus Book of the Year. Her writing and photographs have appeared in the New York Times, Financial Times, Guardian and Granta. In 2011 Faleiro was awarded the Karmaveer Puraskaar for Social Justice 'for drawing attention to India's most vulnerable'. Faleiro is a co-founder of Deca, a global journalism cooperative that creates long-form stories to read on mobile devices. She lives in London.

Find her book here: https://www.amazon.in/Good-Girls-Ordinary-Killing/dp/080215820X

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

Follow us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Check out our sister podcast, The Book People: https://boundindia.com/the-book-people-podcast/

Looking for a writing mentor to make your characters memorable? DM us or send us an email at connect@boundindia.com.

The Good Girls: An Ordinary Killing

Tara and Michelle talk to Rituparna Chatterjee about how she uses magic realism to explore the heavy theme of child abuse in her memoir ‘The Water Phoenix’.We’ve joined #PodForChange to raise donations for Covid relief. Donate here: www.auwa.in/podforchange

Rituparna recounts how real-life events inspired her to start writing this book as a fictional story and how her editor convinced her to turn it into a memoir. She shares how readers have reached out to her with their stories of abuse. Tara enjoys the refreshing way in which Rituparna’s stepmother is portrayed in the story. Michelle loves how she has managed to keep the essence of childhood alive throughout the book. We discuss why memoirs are becoming increasingly popular among readers because ‘People love real stories’.

Why does she call herself a reluctant memoirist? How did she come up with the idea for the book cover? And did her son really edit her book? Tune in to find out!

Book Recommendations:

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Ocean Sea by Alessandro Baricco

Rituparna Chatterjee is a writer, journalist, columnist and a former foreign correspondent for The Economic Times. For the same newspaper she writes California Dreaming, a column about her life as an immigrant mother in America. Her short stories for children have been published in various anthologies. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her son, husband and Quoisey, their samurai fish, and the dogs they puppysit. Find her book here: https://www.amazon.in/Water-Phoenix-childhood-healing-forgiveness/dp/9389000556

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

Follow us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Check out our Meditative Writing class! https://boundindia.com/events/meditative-writing-workshop/

Looking for a writing mentor to make your characters memorable? DM us or send us an email at connect@boundindia.com.

The Water Phoenix

Tara and Michelle chat with Clyde D’Souza about how he captures the essence of Goan villages, food and culture in his latest book Susegad: The Goan Art of Contentment.We’ve joined #PodForChange to raise donations for Covid relief. Donate here: www.auwa.in/podforchange

Clyde talks about all things Goa! From the free ferry system to why Goans like fish curry and mango pickle! He calls Susegad a ‘self-happy’ book. We discuss the meaning of the Konkani word ‘Susegad’ and his favourite stories and recipes from the book. Tara loves how this book captures the history of Goa and takes us into the Goan village life. Michelle loves all the anecdotes he shares, like when his aunt gets a coconut plucker to pluck 500 coconuts in 20 minutes!

How did he fit short stories, recipes, and doodles into one non-fiction book? How does he practice Susegad on a daily basis? Tune in for a relaxing chat that takes your mind off the pandemic!

Goan Book Recommendations:

Skin by Margaret Mascarenhas
Frank Simoes' Goa by Frank Simoes
Poskem by Wendell Rodricks
Mario’s Goa by Mario de Miranda

Clyde D'Souza is a creative director who has worked in TV, Print, Digital. He loves stories and storytellers. He is the author of two books: ‘Kissing Ass: The Art of Office Politics’ and ‘Ghanta College: The Art of Topping College Life’ published by Penguin Random House India. Clyde lives in Mumbai and escapes to Goa whenever he can. Find his book here: https://www.amazon.in/Susegad-Goan-Contentment-Clyde-DSouza/dp/0670094579

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

Follow us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Get your nonfiction book edited by us! DM us or send us an email at connect@boundindia.com.

Susegad: The Goan Art of Contentment

**Tara and Michelle talk to Diksha Basu, critically acclaimed author of The Windfall and Destination Wedding, about how she creates memorable characters with humor and empathy.

This episode is sponsored by Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters, who roast + brew India's best Arabica coffee. Use the code mentioned in the episode to get a 10% discount on all coffee purchases over INR 400. Offer valid till 31st July, 2021.**

Diksha shares how her mentor, Gary Shteyngart, gave her the confidence to create characters completely different from herself. Tara and Michelle love that her older women characters are inspired by her grandmother and the other badass women in her life. Her latest book, Destination Wedding, is being adapted to the screen! Why does she love translations? Why is Delhi such an important part of her stories? How did her book create a bidding war? Tune in to find out!

Diksha Basu is a writer and occasional actor. Originally from New Delhi, India, she holds a BA in Economics from Cornell University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University and now divides her time between New York City and Mumbai. Buy her latest book here: https://www.amazon.in/Destination-Wedding-Diksha-Basu/dp/1526630494

Book Recommendations:

A Bad Character by Deepti Kapoor
Luster by Raven Leilani
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

Authors She Loves:

Chimamanda Adichie
Zadie Smith
Arunava Sinha
Meena Kandasamy

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

Follow us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

If you’re looking for a mentor to guide you through your writing journey, DM us or send us an email at connect@boundindia.com.

Want to know more about publishing?

Tune in to our brand new publishing podcast ‘The Book People’: https://boundindia.com/the-book-people-podcast/

OR Download our FREE research report on ‘Demystifying Indian Publishing’: https://boundindia.com/demystifying-the-indian-publishing-industry/

Destination Wedding

We are back with season 3! Tara and Michelle discuss what creativity means to them and how they have developed small habits or rituals to help them be more relaxed and productive.

Tara and Michelle’s first creative act was writing fanfiction! Tara wrote Enid Blyton fanfiction while Michelle was inspired by R. L. Stine’s Goosebumps series. They discuss why reading newspaper articles, short stories, and newsletters is as important as reading books. Michelle sets annual reading goals instead of resolutions. Tara uses cooking and yoga to inspire her creativity. How did they start their own newsletters? How to get out of a reading slump? And is reading a form of self-care? Tune in to find out!

Recommendations:

The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Literary Magazines: Wildness, Out of Print, Jellyfish Review
Graphic Novels: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, Burma Chronicles by Guy Delisle
Business Books: Range by David Epstein, Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
Notes On A Scandal by Zoe Heller

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Read more: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/

Follow us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Tara Khandelwal is an editor and the founder of Bound. Check out her latest newsletter - https://tara489.substack.com

Michelle D’costa’s poetry and prose has been published in over 50 literary journals. Check out her latest newsletter - https://michelledcosta.substack.com/

Tune in to our brand new podcast ‘The Book People’: https://boundindia.com/the-book-people-podcast/

Download our FREE research report on ‘Demystifying Indian Publishing’: https://boundindia.com/demystifying-the-indian-publishing-industry/

Our hosts discuss their reading preferences and the Indian literary scene in this season finale.

Tara and Michelle bond over their shared love for books and reading - how did they fall in love with books, what kind of stories do they like to read, and how has the pandemic affected their reading habits? Most notably, they finally read Arundhati Roy’s ‘The God of Small Things’ in 2020!

They discuss how they decide what to read next - is it based on research, recommendations from friends and writers, or curated lists and prizes like JCB? Tara confesses her newfound love for historical fiction like ‘American Wife’ by Curtis Sittenfield, while Michelle loves stories like ‘A Clockwork Orange’ by Anthony Burgess that challenge her as a reader. Tara shares how she is warming up to audio books during the pandemic. Michelle misses reading books during her daily train rides to work. They chat about the role of book reviews and why everyone should be able to read what they love - a fitting message for a season finale!

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Tara Khandelwal is an editor and the founder of Bound. Check out her latest newsletter - https://tara489.substack.com/p/coming-soon

Michelle D’costa’s poetry and prose has been published in over 50 literary journals. Check out her latest published works - https://michellewendydcosta.wordpress.com/writer/

Mentions: Resh Susan aka thebooksatchel on Instagram, Senior Reading Raccoons on Facebook

Book Recommendations: ‘Becoming’ by Michelle Obama, ‘The Twentieth Wife’ and ‘A Feast of Roses’ by Indu Sundaresan, ‘Rodham’ by Curtis Sittenfield, ‘The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman’ by Denis Thériault

Follow Bound on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @boundindia

Follow our podcast on Instagram: @boundpodcasts

You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

Find out how she conducted research for 7 years for her daring nonfiction book.

Tara and Michelle talk to Tara Kaushal about her path-breaking nonfiction book, “Why Men Rape: An Indian Undercover Investigation”, published by HarperCollins. She tells us how she was inspired by her personal experiences and the Delhi gang rape case to write about this critical and sensitive issue that affects the lives of thousands of women in India even today.

Tara Kaushal shares her experiences researching this topic for 7 years, how she was able to build relationships with the 9 men she interviewed, and the toll it took on her life. She gives some excellent tips for researchers and non-fiction writers, such as identifying the right people to interview, designing questions that they will be willing to answer truthfully, and separating Tara - the person from Tara - the investigator. Tara (our host) is amazed that Tara (our guest) asked 250 questions to each man! Michelle wants to write her own research-based book someday!

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Tara Kaushal is a writer and media consultant based in Mumbai, India. She received the Laadli Media Award for gender-sensitive writing in 2013-4, and won a Femina Superwomen of the Year Award in 2018.

Mentions: Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny by Kate Manne, Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion by Paul Bloom, Too Many Men, Too Few Women: Social Consequences of Gender Imbalance in India and China by Ravinder Kaur

You can get your copy of her book here:

https://www.amazon.in/Why-Men-Rape-Undercover-Investigation/dp/9353577276/

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

Follow Bound on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @boundindia

Follow our podcast on Instagram: @boundpodcasts

You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

Why Men Rape: An Indian Undercover Investigation

Find out how she explores different languages, characters and places in her writing.

Tara and Michelle talk to Anukrti Upadhyay about her latest novel Kintsugi. We chat about Japanese literature and why Indians are fascinated by Japanese stories, including anime and manga! Tara loves how Anukrti has brilliantly captured a foreign culture in her novel, making it a rare book in Indian fiction.

Anukrti shares why she made up the folktales in her previous books and how her editor found out when he tried to Google them! Michelle wonders how Anukrti is able to write in two languages - English and Hindi. How did she create such a loyal readership on bookstagram? Why does she have two birthdays? Who is her favourite female character from Kintsugi? And how has the pandemic affected her writing? Tune in to find out!

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Anukrti Upadhyay has post-graduate degrees in Management and Literature, and a graduate degree in Law. She writes in both English and Hindi. She stunned readers and critics alike with the twin novellas Daura and Bhaunri in 2019, and delighted Hindi readers with short story collection Japani Sarai.

Mentions: Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, Keigo Higashino and Haruki Murakami

You can get your copy of her book here:

https://www.amazon.in/Kintsugi-Novel-Anukrti-Upadhyay/dp/9353579538/

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

Follow Bound on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @boundindia

Follow our podcast on Instagram: @boundpodcasts

You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

Books, Literature, Authors, Writing, Interview podcasts, Interview, India, Japan, Indian podcast, Books podcast, Literary podcast, Publishing, Fiction, Literary Fiction, Anukrti Upadhyay, Fourth Estate India

Kintsugi A Novel

Writing literary fiction about artificial intelligence

Tara and Michelle talk to Tanuj Solanki about his latest novel, “The Machine Is Learning”, which was longlisted for the JCB Prize. We chat about why he decided to write about technology and the workplace in this literary format.

Tanuj tells us about his childhood in Muzaffarnagar and how his family encouraged his reading habits. He tells us how his creative process has changed from spontaneity to planned writing. Tara is impressed that Tanuj finds the time to write between his full time job and his role as the editor of The Bombay Literary Magazine. We chat about translations and how he likes to experiment in his writing. Michelle and Tanuj bond over their preference for short stories over novels and how he dreams of writing a fat novel one day!

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Tanuj Solanki is the author of two novels—The Machine is Learning (longlisted for the JCB Prize) and Neon Noon (shortlisted for the Tata Lit Live First Book Award)—and a short-story collection, Diwali in Muzaffarnagar (winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar).

Mentions: Moustache by Hareesh S., The survivors by Gurdial Singh, Your Face Tomorrow Volume 3: Poison, Shadow and Farewell by Javier Marías, Meena Kandasamy, Ben Lerner

You can get your copy of his book here:

https://www.amazon.in/Machine-Learning-Tanuj-Solanki/dp/9389109299

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

Follow Bound on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @boundindia

Follow our podcast on Instagram: @boundpodcasts

You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

The Machine is Learning: Longlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature 2020

From migrant workers to British expats, from the hills of Uttaranchal to the heart of Mumbai's metropolis, find out how Udayan captures India's lockdown experience in his timely short story collection.

Tara and Michelle talk to Udayan Mukherjee about his short story collection, “Essential Items: Stories from a Land in Lockdown”, recently published by Bloomsbury. Udayan shares how writing during the pandemic kept him sane. He finished the book in three months and Tara had the pleasure of editing it!

We chat about Udayan’s life in the hills: the people he meets and how they have influenced the stories in his collection. He talks about the importance of capturing our experiences with the lockdown while it is happening. Michelle is inspired to start writing about the pandemic herself! Why does he prefer to write fiction? How has he never owned a smartphone? And does he share writing tips with his brother, the author Neel Mukherjee? Tune in to find out!

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Udayan Mukherjee was born in Calcutta. For two decades, he was the face of the Indian financial markets, as anchor and Managing Editor of CNBC. He is the author of the novel Dark Circles and the crime novel A Death in the Himalayas. He has recently published Essential Items: Stories from a Land in Lockdown, a short story collection with Bloomsbury.

Mentions: A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Muhammad Hanif, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin, Akhil Sharma, Raymond Carver, P G Woodhouse, John Cheever

You can get your copy of his book here:

https://www.amazon.in/Essential-Items-Stories-Land-Lockdown/dp/9390252210

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

Follow Bound on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @boundindia

Follow our podcast on Instagram: @boundpodcasts

You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

Essential Items: Stories from a Land in Lockdown

Find out how she reveals the most private details of her life in this bold and funny celeb memoir.

Tara and Michelle talk to Tahira Kashyap, whose memoir “The 12 Commandments Of Being A Woman” is receiving heavy praise from Bollywood celebrities and Indian authors alike. Tahira shares the funniest / most embarrassing moments with us: her first visit to a gynaecologist, how her mother-in-law gifted her lingerie, and how her editor Chiki Sarkar now knows the most intimate details of her life, including her kinks!

Michelle and Tahira bond over their childhoods in middle class families and how every writer needs a supportive family to thrive. We chat about her husband and creative partner, Ayushmann Khurrana, and his reaction to all the intimate details revealed in her memoir. Tara felt like she was reading Tahira’s secret diary! Why does she hog the dining table when she writes? What role does Buddhism play in her life? Tune in to find out!

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Tahira Kashyap Khurrana is a writer and film-maker based in Mumbai. She is the author of three books and has directed two acclaimed short films, Pinni and Toffee.

Mentions: The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak, One by Richard Bach, Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

You can get your copy of her book here:

https://www.amazon.in/12-Commandments-Being-Woman/dp/9353451213/

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

Follow Bound on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @boundindia

Follow our podcast on Instagram: @boundpodcasts

You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

12 Commandments of Being a woman, The

Find out how she explores unfamiliar concepts like polyamorous relationships and the Munchausen syndrome in her literary novel.

Tara and Michelle talk to Rheea Mukherjee, whose literary novel “The Body Myth” artfully explores polyamorous relationships, mental illnesses like the Munchaussen syndrome, and how people respond to grief. Her manuscript was rejected 40 times before she finally submitted it for “Pitch Wars”. Rheea tells us how a writing mentorship changed her life and transformed her book from ordinary to extraordinary. Now her book has been published in the US and India!

Michelle first discovered Rheea’s work in a literary magazine. We discuss why writers should submit their work and embrace rejection as a part of their lives. Rheea shares her love for dark humor and black coffee. Tara admires how she balances a business with her writing. Why did she write about these specific subjects? How does Rheea deal with rejection? What is she writing next? Tune in to find out!

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Rheea Rodrigues Mukherjee is the author of The Body Myth (Unnamed Press /Penguin India 2019) which was shortlisted for the Tata Literature Live First Book Award. Her work has been published and featured in Scroll.in, Southern Humanities Review, Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, Vogue India, Out of Print, TBLM, and Bengal Lights, among others. She co-founded Bangalore Writers Workshop in 2012 and currently co-runs Write Leela Write, a Design and Content Laboratory in Bangalore, India. Rheea has an MFA in creative writing from California College of the Arts.

Mentions: My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, The Glass Castle Book by Jeannette Walls, My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

You can get your copy of her book here:

https://www.amazon.in/Body-Myth-Rheea-Mukherjee/dp/1944700846

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

Follow Bound on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @boundindia

Follow our podcast on Instagram: @boundpodcasts

You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

The Body Myth

Find out how he balanced research, personal stories, Bollywood masala, and more to write a business book that will change the way we think about work-places.

Tara and Michelle talk to Parmesh Shahani, whose latest book “Queeristan: LGBTQ Inclusion in the Indian Workplace” is described as ‘part memoir, part manifesto’. He shares the challenges of writing a book for multiple audiences - queer and straight, business and non-business.

Find out how he turned his business book into a Bollywood masala film - spicing up the numbers and facts with real stories and personal experiences. He talks about the power of excel sheets in structuring his book. Michelle loves Parmesh’s references, from Simmi aunty in Indian Matchmaking to the coveted coffee hamper from Koffee with Karan. Tara calls it a business book unlike anything she has ever read before!

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Parmesh Shahani is Vice President at Godrej Industries Ltd. He is a passionate advocate for LGBTQ inclusion in corporate India. He is the author of “Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)Longing in Contemporary India” and “Queeristan: LGBTQ Inclusion in the Indian Workplace”. He has been a TED Senior Fellow, a Yale World Fellow, and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. He is a member of the FICCI taskforce on diversity and inclusion and a board member of KHOJ International Artists’ Association.

Mentions: Sachin Kundalkar’s Cobalt Blue translated by Jerry Pinto, Nisha Susan’s The Women Who Forgot to Invent Facebook & Other Stories, Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar’s My Father’s Garden, Michiel Baas’ Muscular India: Masculinity, Mobility & the New Middle Class, Sharanya Manivannan’s poetry.

You can get your copy of his book here:

https://www.amazon.in/Queeristan-LGBTQ-Inclusion-Indian-Workplace/dp/9389648149

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

Follow our podcast on Instagram: @boundpodcasts

You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

Queeristan: LGBT Inclusion at the Indian Workplace

Find out how she breaks into the literary thriller genre and reveals Delhi’s seedy underbelly.

Tara and Michelle talk to Damyanti Biswas, author of the fascinating literary thriller, 'You Beneath Your Skin'. She tells us about her process of writing this debut novel, which included fifteen drafts!

Damyanti spoke to police officers, psychologists, and acid attack survivors to make sure her story and characters were realistic. Tara is fascinated by the amount of research that went into writing this novel. Damyanti shares insights about the craft of writing unlike in any episode before, like how she creates realistic settings and how she has a song for each character she writes. We chat about the issues tackled in the book and how she perfectly captures the essence of Delhi. Michelle loves how Damyanti uses her knowledge of Improv Theatre to write dialogues.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Damyanti's short fiction has been published, or is forthcoming, at Ambit, Litro, Puerto Del Sol, Griffith Review Australia, Pembroke magazine, Atticus Review, and other journals in the USA and UK. She serves as one of the editors of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her debut literary crime novel You Beneath Your Skin was published by Simon & Schuster India in autumn 2019, and optioned for TV adaptation by Endemol Shine.

Mentions: Anita Nair’s Inspector Gowda Series, Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister the Serial Killer by, Deepanjana Pal’s Hush A Bye Baby

You can get your copy of her books here:

https://www.amazon.in/BENEATH-YOUR-SKIN-DAMYANTI-BISWAS/dp/9386797623/

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

Follow Bound on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @boundindia

Follow our podcast on Instagram: @boundpodcasts

You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

You Beneath Your Skin

Find out how she created a brand new template for this much-needed book on mental health.

Tara and Michelle talk to Sonali Gupta about her book Anxiety: Overcome It and Live without Fear. Sonali tells us about her childhood, and how she became interested in writing and therapy. Michelle shares how journaling has helped her through the years. Tara tells us how she struggles with being labelled as quiet and introverted.

We chat about how Sonali wrote her book in 6 months! She wants to make it accessible to everyone in India. What motivated her to write this book? What was her experience of publishing it during the pandemic? What mental health topic will she tackle next? This might just be their most revealing episode to date!

In 'Books and Beyond with Bound Season 2', Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Mumbai-based clinical psychologist Sonali Gupta has 16 years of experience in the field of mental health. She writes a weekly column for Mumbai Mirror titled 'Terms of Engagement'. She currently runs a private practice in Khar and South Bombay.

You can get your copy of her books here:

https://www.amazon.in/Anxiety-Overcome-Live-without-Fear/dp/935357658X

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

Follow Bound on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @boundindia

Follow our podcast on Instagram: @boundpodcasts

You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

Anxiety : Overcome It and Live without Fear

Find out how she is busting the 'chick lit' myth one romance novel at a time.

Tara and Michelle talk to Anmol Malik about her recently published romance novel, Three Impossible Wishes. Tara chats about her love for rom-coms and romance novels, and why ‘chick lit’ is underrated. Michelle finds out what a meet-cute is!

Anmol explains the nuances of writing books vs scripts and how dialogues play an important role in revealing the depths of her characters. We chat about subverting genres and the art of writing characters of the opposite gender. How did Anmol go about publishing her debut novel, especially during the pandemic?! How do food and music play an important role in her book? And does she have more feel-good stories up her sleeve?

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Anmol Malik aka Audrey Piano studied Creative Writing from the University of Warwick, England. After working at Leo Burnett and UTV-Disney, she went on to look after the Script Department at Yash Raj Films. Author, singer, songwriter, she' s honestly just a girl doing the best she can.

You can get your copy of her book here:

https://www.amazon.in/Three-Impossible-Wishes-Anmol-Malik/dp/935357708X

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

Follow Bound on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @boundindia

Follow our podcast on Instagram: @boundpodcasts

You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

Three Impossible Wishes

From comics to superheroes to dystopia: find out how he popularized speculative fiction in India.

Tara and Michelle talk to Samit Basu, one of the foremost speculative fiction writers in India. After writing everything from fantasy to science fiction, he has recently published a bestselling dystopian novel Chosen Spirits. Michelle loves that Chosen Spirits is set only ten years into the future. Tara finds out why he calls it an “anti-dystopian” novel.

Samit gives us great insights into his writing process, especially how he creates fantastical words and characters from his reality. We chat about the writing community then vs. now, and what the future of speculative fiction in India could be. What is his next project? Will he stick to the speculative fiction genre? Can we expect to see his bestselling books adapted on the screen? Samit answers these and more questions in this episode. Do not miss the rapid fire section in the end!

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Samit Basu is the author, most recently, of Chosen Spirits, a near-future anti-dystopian novel. He's also known for the Gameworld trilogy of fantasy novels, the Turbulence series of superhero novels, and the Adventures of Stoob series of children’s books. He’s written bestsellers, won awards, and been published in multiple countries and languages. Basu is also the co-writer/director of a Netflix film, comics writer and columnist, and runs Duck of Dystopia, a creativity/arts newsletter.

You can get your copy of his book here:

https://www.amazon.in/Chosen-Spirits-Samit-Basu/dp/938679781X/

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

Follow Bound on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @boundindia

Follow our podcast on Instagram: @boundpodcasts

You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

Chosen Spirits

Find out how she uses her life experiences in her comedy. And her writing!

Tara and Michelle talk to the wonderful comedian Radhika Vaz about her memoir 'Unladylike'. Radhika felt unladylike while growing up, which inspired the name of her comedy show, which inspired the name of her book! We chat about childhood crushes, body hair, and being unapologetically herself in her tell-all memoir.

Radhika gives us some great insights about writing for different formats, and how the editor-author relationship is super important in nonfiction writing. What will she do next? Will there be another memoir about her life as a comic? Who does she want to be in her next life? All will be revealed in this episode.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Radhika Vaz is one of India’s most well recognized stand-up comedians. Her edgy web-series ‘Shugs & Fats’ won the prestigious Gotham Independent Film Awards in New York and she was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s ‘25 New Faces of Independent Film’. Her book ‘Unladylike, A Memoir’ is now available in stores and on Amazon and she has written columns for The Washington Post, Vogue, Architectural Digest, Times of India, HT, GQ, L'Official and a host of other publications.

You can get your copy of her books here:

https://www.amazon.in/Unladlylike-Memoir-Radhika-Vaz/dp/938306417X

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

Follow Bound on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @boundindia

Follow our podcast on Instagram: @boundpodcasts

You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

Unladylike: A Memoir

Find out why she is fascinated by 200-year old women and how she brings them to life in her books.

Tara and Michelle speak to Ira Mukhoty, who is known for her fascinating stories about extraordinary women. Ira tells us about her favorite historical figures and how she wants to make history accessible and interesting for everyone. She shares the experience of releasing a book during the pandemic.

What is it like to excavate these histories and why does she call herself a medieval detective? What is her creative process? How does travel inspire her to write? Ira answers these questions and shares some fun stories that you definitely won’t find in your history textbooks! Michelle is especially excited to know more about the Akbar and Birbal stories. And Tara loves all things history!

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Ira Mukhoty is the author of Heroines, Daughters of the Sun, and Akbar: The Great Mughal. Living in one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, she developed an interest in the evolution of mythology and history, the erasure of women from these histories, and the continuing relevance this has on the status of women in India. She writes rigorously researched narrative histories that are accessible to the lay reader. She lives in Gurgaon with her husband and two daughters.

You can get your copy of her latest book here:

https://www.amazon.in/Akbar-Great-Mughal-Ira-Mukhoty/dp/9389836042/

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

Follow Bound on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @boundindia

Follow our podcast on Instagram: @boundpodcasts

You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

Akbar: The Great Mughal

Hear from the main protagonists of the podcast. Tara and Michelle are back to give you a sneak-peek into Season 2 and into their lives!

You know Tara and Michelle as co-workers and co-hosts. But did you know that they are also very good friends?

Dive deeper into their lives. How does Michelle find the time to write? Why does Tara love Michelle’s mom? How does Michelle feel about her move to Bombay? How did Tara learn to break out of her shell? Why does Michelle call Tara a ‘bosslady’? And do they see themselves planning the perfect murder? Find out more about their experiences, their friendship, and what you can expect from Season 2 in this revelatory episode.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Tara Khandelwal is an editor and the founder of Bound. She is a graduate of Barnard College, Columbia University and the Columbia Publishing Course and has worked with Penguin, BloombergQuint, SheThePeople.TV and more.

Michelle D’costa is a Mangalorean writer from Mumbai. Her poetry and prose has been published in over 50 literary journals. She loves to interview writers and talks about books on Youtube. She is the Managing Editor at Bound.

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

Follow Bound on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @boundindia

Follow our podcast on Instagram: @boundpodcasts

You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

Find Out How Amrita Dealt With Manuscript Rejections, How She Drew Inspiration From Life For The Plot Of Milk Teeth And Much More...
This week on Books and Beyond with Bound, we are joined by Amrita Mahale, aerospace-engineer-turned-author of the JCB-longlisted Milk Teeth. We talk about Mumbai, the backdrop of her debut novel, and everything that makes the city home. Amrita tells us why she finds airport bookstores fascinating, why she’s intrigued by the relationship between a city and its citizens and what truly makes for a good book. We talk about editing, book deals and writer’s block. We talk about inspiration, fear and patience.

Amrita talks us through her major characters – how they possess elements of herself and people she knows, yet are so completely different from reality. She talks about good characterization, the research that went into Milk Teeth and why it is more than a romance novel. Through heartfelt conversation, we explore incidents in her personal life that have influenced characters in her novel. Is Karthik’s coming-out experience inspired by her brother? Or does his risk-averse nature resemble Amrita herself?

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Amrita Mahale is the author of the novel Milk Teeth, longlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature 2019. Amrita was trained as an aerospace engineer and is a product manager at a nonprofit research lab working on artificial intelligence for social good. Her writing has appeared in Hindustan Times, Scroll, Himal Southasian and Brown Paper Bag.

You can get a copy of her book here- https://www.amazon.in/Books-Amrita-Mahale/s?rh=n%3A976389031%2Cp_27%3AAmrita+Mahale

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.
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You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

Find Out How He Wrote His Deeply Personal Memoir, The Books That Shaped Him and What’s His Writing Routine Like…

Author of So Now You Know: A Memoir of Growing Up Gay in India, Vivek Tejuja, opens up to us about his insecurities while writing his first book.

From worrying about society’s reaction to such a sensitive and personal subject to being critical of rejection in all aspects of life, he talks us through the struggles he faced as a writer. We talk about reactions, opinions and criticism. How did his family react to his book? What response did it receive? We also talk about dealing with online trolls. We also talk about society and taboo and identity.

On this episode, we take a closer look at media and its portrayal of LGBT stories, stereotypes and perspective. From literature to TV shows to pop culture, from Hollywood to Bollywood, we revisit popular entertainment to understand its inclusivity. We talk about Vivek’s reading habits, his favourite books, his writing inspirations.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Vivek Tejuja has worked with books at Flipkart and now at Verve magazine, and he writes regularly on books and the experience of reading, notably on his blog, The Hungry Reader. His debut book So Now You Know: A Memoir of Growing Up Gay in India was published by HarperCollins India in 2019.

You can get your copy of his book here: https://www.amazon.in/So-Now-You-Know-Growing/dp/935357269X

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

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You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

So Now You Know: A Memoir of Growing Up Gay in India

Find Out How He Manages To Read And Write Poetry, Fiction and Non-Fiction!Tara and Michelle talk to Suhit Kelkar, author of the poetry chapbook The Centaur Chronicles. From stand-up comedy to mythology, Suhit gushes about everything he’s passionate about. We talk ideas, influences and inspiration. We talk about childhood stories and the moment the idea for his first book struck. We discuss perspectives on writer’s block, rejection from publishers and manuscript submissions.

Suhit talks about the role journalism played in helping him remain detached from his writing. He talks about freelance work – and why he thinks it’s a great way to enter the writing world. We talk about spirituality, philosophy, aesthetics and mythology – and how they shape Suhit’s ideas and provide him a way to belong to something. From Archies and Enid Blyton to non-fiction on climate change and politics, he takes us through his reading list over the years. From book reviews to beta-reading to spiritual retreats, we’ve got it covered on this episode.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Suhit Kelkar lives in Bombay, where he works as a journalist. His poems have been published in various Indian and international news and literary magazines, such as Vayavya, The Bombay Literary Magazine, Sunflower Collective, The Tiger Moth Review, Elsewhere Lit, Domus, Hakara, and Cafe Dissensus, among others. His debut poetry chapbook titled The Centaur Chronicles won the 2018 US National Poetry Contest.

You can get your copy of his book here: https://www.amazon.com/Centaur-Chronicles-Suhit-Kelkar/dp/9387883159

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.
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You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

The Centaur Chronicles

Find Out How She Does It all: Crime Thrillers, Biographies, Children's Fiction, Journalism and More

Tara and Michelle speak to Deepanjana Pal, author of Hush a Bye Baby, a thriller about a murderous gynaecologist. She is also the author of the biography of artist Ravi Verma. And to top it off, she is a journalist who also writes children’s fiction. She tells us why she thinks genre is a made-up concept, why Harry Potter is overrated (gasp) and how commercial fiction can offer great lessons in writing.

On the episode, we chat about patriarchy, female feticide and the implications of having a female antagonist in a feminist novel. Deepanjana gushes about her love for reading and writing, she has loved words since she was three years old and how she can’t imagine doing anything else, yet warns us about the practicalities of the profession.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Deepanjana Pal is a Mumbai-based author and journalist. She is the author of Hush A Bye Baby and The Painter: A Life of Ravi Varma. She studied English Literature at St. Stephen’s College and postcolonial theory and literature at University of Warwick. Her non-fiction writing on culture and gender has appeared in publications like The Atlantic, Wallpaper, Caravan, Buzzfeed and Vogue. She has worked with Time Out Mumbai, Firstpost and Newslaundry and is currently an associate editor with The Hindustan Times.

You can get your copy of her books here:

https://www.amazon.in/Books-Deepanjana-Pal/s?rh=n%3A976389031%2Cp_27%3ADeepanjana+Pal

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.
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You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

Find Out Why The Ramayana Has Fascinated Her For Over Three Decades.

Tara and Michelle speak to Arshia Sattar – writer, translator, editor and founder of Sangam House, a writing residency. We talk about mythology, religion and narrative. We discuss perspective, retellings and originality. We discuss our favourite characters, the importance of perspective and its modern-day implications.

We discuss gender and feminism – and how its portrayal must adapt to the changing times. We talk about Sangam House and how it came into creation. We also talk about objectivity, research and authenticity – how do you keep your retelling authentic to both yourself and the original text? Why translation? Why the Ramayana? What do translation and swimming have in common? What does Arshia’s writing desk look like? Tune in to find out!

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Arshia Sattar is an Indian translator, facilitator, author, and director. Sattar obtained her PhD in South Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago in 1990. Her translations from Sanskrit, The Ramayana of Valmiki and Tales from the Kathasaritsagara, have been published as Penguin Classics. She has also written books for children, including The Adventures of Hanuman. She is the founder of Sangam House, India’s most prestigious writing residency.

You can get your copy of her books here:

https://www.amazon.in/Books-Arshia-Sattar/s?rh=n%3A976389031%2Cp_27%3AArshia+Sattar

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.
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Follow our podcast on Instagram: @boundpodcasts
You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

7 years. 8 drafts. Find out why she rewrote her award-winning manuscript again and again.

Tara and Michelle chat with Avni Doshi, author of the award-winning Girl in White Cotton. It's about a twisted-mother daughter relationship, and the famous Osho ashram even has a role to play!

Avni talks to us about new methods of writing, including a concept called sense writing. We discuss unconscious writing, and how one can access their creative side through a meditative relaxed state.

We talk about authenticity and inspiration – and the confrontations she faced when basing her characters on real-life incidents and what she thinks such issues mean to writers.

From writing detoxes to editing, Avni provides a ton of practical takeaways for aspiring writers on this episode. She tells us more about her writing process – how her first novel took 7 years and 8 drafts to complete and everything she’s learned since then. We talk about perspective, voice and bias – issues which are extremely pertinent in the media age – and how she reflected them in her novel.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Born in New Jersey, Avni Doshi completed her BA in Art History from Barnard College in New York and an MA in History of Art at University College London. While working as an art writer and curator in India, Avni began writing fiction in her spare time. She has been awarded the Tibor Jones South Asia Prize and a Charles Pick Fellowship. Her current focus is fiction and experimental art writing. She is also making art out of the remnants of old manuscripts. Burnt Sugar / Girl in White Cotton is her first novel. Avni lives in Dubai with her family.

You can get your copy of her book here:

https://www.amazon.in/Girl-White-Cotton-Avni-Doshi/dp/9353571383

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.
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You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

Girl in White Cotton

Learn how to get your comics published and develop your storytelling and artistic skills.

Tara and Michelle are joined by graphic novelist Abhijeet Kini, a comic book creator, illustrator and founder of his own design studio. We take a trip down memory lane by reminiscing over our favourite comics like Tinkle and what we loved about them. Abhijeet talks to us about his childhood love for comics and how an encounter with Anant Pai encouraged him to break into the industry – when Abhijeet was simply in the eighth grade.

Did you know he started drawing comics in the third grade? We talk about his creative process, where he draws his inspiration from and how he deals with criticism. He gets real with us about the practical side of his passion – from financial responsibility to side jobs and formal training. We discuss issues like diversity, inclusivity and female representation in an industry with male-dominated readership.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick. Abhijeet Kini is a graphic novelist who has published several comics like Angry Maushi. He has worked as an illustrator for several leading publications like the Hindustan Times, DNA and Mid-day as well as brands like Parle, Titan and Comic Con India. He runs his own design studio called Kini Studios in Mumbai with his wife.

You can get your copy of his books here: https://www.amazon.in/Angry-Maushi-Abhijeet-Kini/dp/9381766177

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

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You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

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Learn about Bombay’s undiscovered narratives with Jane Borges.

Jane talks about Bombay's open secrets: gems hidden in plain sight. We learn about ‘Cavel’, a small Catholic neighbourhood in South Bombay, which is the focus of her book Bombay Balchão. Her insights into the characters’ lives (Goan and Mangalorean) are very educational and entertaining. And Cavel is just a stone's throw away from co-host Tara's residence and we never knew of it until we read the book!

Jane also talks about co-writing Mafia Queens of Mumbai with the veteran writer Hussain Zaidi. One of the stories from the book will soon be adapted by Sanjay Leela Bhansali into a movie and guess who’s starring in it? Alia Bhatt! One of our favourite Bollywood actresses.

She talks about why Bombay feels so unforgettably like home to her and serves as the setting for both her books. We talk about purposeful storytelling that makes a difference, that informs people, that shapes ideas. She gets real with us about every step of her writing journey and why she even almost abandoned her book. We talk about history, conflict and stereotypes – and what fueled her passion to write about these topics.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Jane Borges is a Mumbai-based journalist. She writes on books, heritage and urban planning for Sunday mid-day, the weekend edition of mid-day newspaper. Bombay Balchão, which is set in a Catholic neighbourhood in the city, is her first novel. She has also co-authored Mafia Queens of Mumbai: Stories of Women from the Ganglands with S. Hussain Zaidi, which released in 2011.

You can get your copy of her books here:

https://www.amazon.in/Bombay-Balchao-Jane-Borges/dp/9388754751/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=bombay+balchao&qid=1582366011&s=books&sr=1-2

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

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You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

Bombay Balchao

How do you unleash your imagination? And how do you embrace failure?

Author Tashan Mehta talks to us about all things speculative fiction – from the growth of the genre in India to her favourite works within it. She takes us through her life, describing incidents and stories that changed her worldview on writing and cultivated her love for speculative fiction.

She gushes about the flexibility, lack of rules and the ability of the genre to create experiences, transport the reader to alternate realities and most importantly, make them think. She talks about her struggles writing her first book – working on a single book for 5 years isn’t easy. Neither is rewriting your first draft 52 times. She shares strategies for everything – from inspiration to writer’s block to perseverance – which she’s learned from personal experience, from interacting with her writer friends and from the workshops she’s conducted.

Tune in as we take you on a journey through Tashan’s mind as she tries to put her creative process into words and gives us a glimpse into her imagination.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is a podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Tashan Mehta is a novelist whose debut novel, The Liar’s Weave, was published in 2017 and shortlisted for the Prabha Khaitan Woman's Voice Award. She was part of the 2015 Sangam House Writers' Residency and was British Council Writer-in-Residence at Anglia Ruskin University in 2018. In 2019, she participated in FIELDWORK 0.2, a multidisciplinary residency exploring alternative infrastructures for the future. Her short stories have been anthologised in Magical Women and Third Eye.

You can get your copy of her book here-
https://www.amazon.in/Liars-Weave-Tashan-Mehta/dp/938622819X

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

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You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/

THE LIAR€™S WEAVE [Hardcover] [Jan 01, 2017] Tashan Mehta

What's it like spending your days in trucks without devices to keep you company and how do you make a book out of that?

Tara and Michelle are joined by Rajat Ubhaykar, the author of Truck de India! Did you know he wrote this book after spending months on the road travelling with ‘truckies’ all over India to get a glimpse into their lives? Rajat talks to us about his experience practically hitchhiking across India without a plan, encountering all sorts of different characters and stories, and everything he learned from his experience.

We ask him everything – from what sparked his desire to embark on such an incredible journey to the challenges he faced and what a day on the road was actually like. What did his parents think? Did he ever get bored? How did he deal with the uncertainties and dangers posed by his journey?

We explore Rajat’s unique experiences through hilarious anecdotes, insightful observations and fun facts. We talk about powerful topics like privilege, history and art, the Indian truck economy and Rajat’s favourite travel destinations. From his book deal to his editing process, Rajat tells us everything – like the fact that he doesn’t believe in the concept of drafts, how he chose the right beta readers for his book and the inspiration behind his book cover.

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is a podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Rajat Ubhaykar trained as an electrical engineer at IIT Kanpur and went on to study journalism at the Asian College of Journalism after a stint in management consulting. A recipient of the PoleStar Award in 2016 for his reportage, his work has appeared in publications such as Mint, Outlook Business, Roads & Kingdoms, and Madras Courier. He lives in Mumbai and spends his spare time reviewing books, collecting trivia, and exploring India's archaeological sites. Truck de India is his first book.

You can get your copy of his book here-

https://www.amazon.in/Truck-India-Hitchhikers-guide-Hindustan-ebook/dp/B07Y8R2YXY

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode.

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TRUCK DE INDIA A HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO HINDUSTAN [Paperback] RAJAT UBHAYKAR [Paperback] RAJAT UBHAYKAR [Paperback] RAJAT UBHAYKAR [Paperback] RAJAT UBHAYKAR [Paperback] RAJAT UBHAYKAR [Paperback] RAJAT UBHAYKAR [Paperback] RAJAT UBHAYKAR [Paperback] RAJAT UBHAYKAR Paperback by RAJAT UBHAYKAR (Author) [Paperback] RAJAT UBHAYKAR [Paperback] RAJAT UBHAYKAR [Paperback] RAJAT UBHAYKAR [Paperback] RAJAT UBHAYKAR [Paperback] RAJAT UBHAYKAR [Paperback] RAJAT UBHAYKAR [Paperback] RAJAT UBHAYKAR

Lisa defines herself as a writer, not an actress or model.
Tara and Michelle are joined by author Lisa Ray, a former model, actress and TV personality.

She reveals the dark side of the entertainment industry, especially the rampant stereotyping and typecasting, and talks about her attempts to break free from it. As a victim of labelling, she tells us how her book Close to the Bone was her attempt to seize the narrative and take control of her own life.

Lisa spends hours at her writing desk and on this podcast she redefines herself as a writer, not an actress or model. She hasn’t revealed her creative process as a writer on any other platform before!

She gets personal about the challenges she’s faced – from societal pressure and trying to find her own identity to battling eating disorders and cancer. On a lighter note, she gushes about her parents’ love story, her ideal travel destinations and her favourite books.

'Books and Beyond' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Lisa Ray is an actress, model and TV personality who has modelled for leading Indian brands and starred in award-winning movies like ‘Kasoor’, ‘Water’ and ‘The World Unseen’. Her first book Close to the Bone was published by HarperCollins in 2019. She also runs an Instagram poetry account, has appeared as a columnist on Canada Reads and is currently working on several works spanning different genres.

You can get your copy of her book here:

https://www.amazon.in/Close-Bone-Lisa-Ray/dp/9353570158

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You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com

Close to the Bone

How did Manu first discover history? How does he convert hours of dry research material into rich, imaginative and deep stories?

In our very first episode, we are joined by Manu Pillai, an author of historical fiction who has published three books before turning 30. He shares hilarious stories from the diaries of Mughal emperors, his experience with Twitter trolls and when he feels most inspired to write.

He takes us on a journey through childhood anecdotes and family stories to help us understand the inspiration behind his first book, the reasons for his love of reading and how it has influenced the way he creates his characters. He is completely honest about all things writing – from what he thinks about the publishing industry in India to financial responsibilities as a professional author in India to even how luck and timing were instrumental in his first book being a success!

Tune in to hear us gush about the powerful female characters in his book, his goal of making historical fiction more accessible and a few of his current favourite books.

'Books and Beyond' is a podcast hosted by Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound. They talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Manu S. Pillai is the author of the Sahitya Akademi award-winning The Ivory Throne, Rebel Sultans and The Courtesan, the Mahatma & the Italian Brahmin. Formerly Chief of Staff to Dr. Shashi Tharoor MP, he has worked with the House of Lords and the BBC and writes a weekly column for Mint Lounge. He is an alumnus of Fergusson College, Pune, and is currently enrolled as a PhD candidate at King’s College, London.

You can get your copy of his books here:

https://www.amazon.in/Books-Manu-S-Pillai/s?rh=n%3A976389031%2Cp_27%3AManu+S.+Pillai

Follow Bound on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @boundindia

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You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com

Tara and Michelle have interviewed writers from various genres for Bound’s podcast ‘Books and Beyond’. But in this episode, they decided to interview each other! Even though they're friends and work together, they learn something new about each other every day!
Listen to their interview to find out more about how both of them became avid readers, editors and writers. Find out about their take on publishing, writer's block and being creatives.

Did you know?

Tara has a Cocker Spaniel named Simba who looks like an angel, but at times behaves like the devil. She’s also had a chick, two rabbits, hamsters and lots of fish.

Michelle loves to dance to hip-hop music. She plays music on her JBL speaker and dances away like there’s no tomorrow. She wants to be a trained dancer someday.

Follow Bound on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @boundindia

Follow our podcast on Instagram: @boundpodcasts

You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is a dream come true for Tara and Michelle because they have always wanted to converse with authors and find out about their creative universe.

Through this podcast they got to speak to some of their favourite authors and ask them questions that no one has ever asked. Their love for books and their knowledge of the publishing world shine through their thoughtful questions about the writer's life and creative process.

Together, they make a great literary team and you know you want to listen to their conversations! Tara Khandelwal is the founder of Bound. She currently works with Asia’s largest literary agency, Writers’ Side. Michelle D’costa's prose and poetry have been published in over 40 literary journals like Eclectica, Litro UK and more.

Tune in every Wednesday to listen to Tara and Michelle converse with India's finest writers.

Follow Bound on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @boundindia

Follow our podcast on Instagram: @boundpodcasts

You can check out our website at https://www.boundindia.com/podcast/