The Reading List by Bahrisons Booksellers

What brings thousands of people to Daryaganj every Sunday in search of books? In this episode of The Reading List, Kanupriya Dhingra joins us to talk about The Sunday Book Bazaar, the history of the market, the craft of bookselling, and the readers who return week after week. What happens when a natural bazaar is compelled to move into a more regulated space? And who gets to belong in a changing c...

Getting an H-1B visa can feel like winning the lottery. But what happens once you have it? In this episode of The Reading List , journalist and author Tanul Thakur joins us to talk about Wild Wild East and the complicated reality behind one of America's most coveted visas. We talk about the hopes that bring Indian workers and students to the US, the complex web of intermediaries built around the H...

What really happened in the twenty-one days leading up to India's Independence? In this episode of The Reading List , Josy Joseph takes us into the world of his new book, Birth of a Nation , where the future of India was still being negotiated and contested. We explore the complicated world of the princely states and the many political forces trying to influence their decisions. But this is also a...

History remembers poets. But what happens to the women history leaves behind? In this episode of The Reading List , we sit down with Tarana Husain Khan to discuss her latest novel, The Courtesan, Her Lover and I , inspired by the real-life story of Urdu poet Dagh Dehlvi and the courtesan, artist, and poet Munni Bai Hijab. We explore how Hijab has been remembered, the silences that still surround h...

Every family has its own history, contradictions, and power dynamics. This week on The Reading List , we're joined by Karan Mahajan to discuss his new novel, The Complex, set against the backdrop of a changing India. Together, we explore the beautiful and messy reality of large Indian families, the lasting legacy of Partition, and the expectations placed on daughters and daughters-in-law. We also...

BRB. Gone reading ️ The Reading List is taking a short summer break and returns on July 1st. Need a fix until then? Catch up on all 18 episodes of TRL.  See you in July! #TheReadingListByBahrisons #ReadWithBahri #BookPodcast #IndianAuthors IndieBooks

Do you ever stop to notice the birds, trees, and animal life around you? In this episode of The Reading List , Neha Sinha joins us to discuss her new book Wild Capital and the hidden ecological life of Delhi. From childhood memories of growing up in the city to her environmental work across biodiversity parks in Delhi, Neha reflects on what it means to truly pay attention to the natural world arou...

Breakfast is often seen as the simplest meal of the day, but it carries stories of memory, migration, labour, and identity. In this episode of The Reading List, Priyadarshini Chatterjee joins us to discuss her debut book, First Bite , where she travels across ten Indian cities to explore the cultural and historical significance of the morning meal. From street-side staples to deeply local traditio...

How does one build a life within a system that never stops moving? This week on The Reading List, Rahul Bhattacharya joins us to talk about Railsong, a novel that traces the life of Charu within the vast world of the Indian Railways. Through the world of Railsong, we explore Rahul’s writing practice, the origins of the book, and the making of Charu, a character shaped by observation, movement, and...

What does it mean to feel at home in a city, in a relationship, in your own life? In this episode of The Reading List, Sarnath Banerjee joins us to talk about Absolute Jafar, a deeply personal graphic novel shaped over several years. Moving between Delhi and Berlin, we explore questions of belonging and how love and family are shaped by distance, memory, and borders. We also touch on his creative...

What does it mean for a city to be haunted? In this episode of The Reading List by Bahrisons Booksellers, Aashna Malhotra speaks with historian Eric Chopra about his book Ghosted and the strange afterlives of Delhi’s monuments. Through sites like Jamali Kamali, Firoz Shah Kotla, Khooni Darwaza, and Malcha Mahal, they explore how places gather memory, myth, and meaning over centuries. Moving betwee...

What does it mean to grow up in a world where you are always watched, always connected, and never quite logged out? In the Season 2 premiere of The Reading List by Bahrisons Booksellers, Aashna Malhotra sits down with Ria Chopra, author of Never Logged Out, to explore the cultural and emotional cost of living in the age of algorithms. From early internet memories to curated feeds and performative...

When the British broke up the Indian Empire, they didn’t just divide land; they divided families, languages, and histories. Sam Dalrymple joins us to discuss his debut book, Shattered Lands, and how the borders of British India once stretched from the Himalayas to the Arabian Gulf. Its sudden breakup still echoes through today’s conflicts, refugee crises, and shared cultures across Asia. Together,...

What happens when silence shapes who we become? In this episode, Bhavika Govil joins us to talk about her debut novel, Hot Water, and the private world of Indian families. We discuss children’s rush to grow up, the different ways kids and adults experience the same moments, and the quiet strength of sibling bonds. We also reflect on the gendered expectations placed on little boys and girls, and ho...

How does a towering personality become a mere footnote in national memory? In this episode of The Reading List, we sit down with historian and biographer Narayani Basu to discuss her new book, A Man For All Seasons: The Life of KM Panikkar, and explore why such a remarkable figure has faded from public memory. India’s first ambassador to China, advisor to the princely states, pioneering architect...

What happens when swiping right feels just as exhausting as sitting through another rishta? Author Radhika Agrawal’s Red Flags and Rishtas: A Desi Rom Com is a sharp, witty take on modern love, heartbreak, and the relentless pressure to “settle.” In this episode, we unpack the comedy (and the chaos) of matchmaking today, from stereotypes in Indian romance writing to the impossible expectations wom...

From Punjab’s first encounters with outsiders to the upheaval of Partition, meet the women who defied tradition, colonial rule, and societal norms to shape history. In this conversation with Harleen Singh, author of The Lost Heer, we uncover stories of queens, rebels, and protectors, women who ruled and resisted, even when confined by purdah or erased from history books. From early education refor...

As India races to modernise and liberalise its economy, who is left behind? In this episode of The Reading List, journalist Neha Dixit unpacks the unseen story of India’s working class through the life of Syeda, a home-based worker whose story mirrors that of millions. From exploitative labour practices to systemic injustice, from communal tensions to quiet acts of rebellion, The Many Lives of Sye...

What does it mean to inherit more than just money, like expectations, silence, and systems that need rethinking? In this episode, author Keshava Guha joins Aashna Malhotra to discuss The Tiger’s Share, a novel that explores how family duty, gender, class, and climate intersect in the heart of Delhi. They reflect on generational divides, evolving gender roles, and a rising nationalism that seeks ap...

In this special episode of The Reading List, author Aanchal Malhotra steps into the spotlight for an intimate conversation with her sister and host, Aashna Malhotra. For the first time, she shares the creative journey behind her debut novel The Book of Everlasting Things. Together, they explore how memory, fragrance, and family shape her storytelling, and how Aanchal’s background as an oral histor...

In this episode of The Reading List, author Amitabha Bagchi joins Aashna Malhotra to talk about "Unknown City", an epistolary novel that explores memory, emotional growth, and the stories we tell ourselves about who we’ve been. As his protagonist rereads decades of emails with the significant women in his life, Bagchi shares how fiction can become a space for personal reckoning, and how learning t...

In this episode of The Reading List , author and mental health advocate Amrita Tripathi joins us to discuss “ The Other Sister” , a novel that gently explores the emotional weight of modern life—anxiety, identity, belonging, family dynamics, and the growing influence of social media. It’s a heartfelt, insightful conversation on how literary fiction helps us voice what’s often left unsaid, and how...

In this episode of The Reading List, author Anirudh Kanisetti takes us beyond kings and battlefields into the everyday rhythms of life under the Chola Empire. With rich research and vivid storytelling, he brings the past alive, not just through court politics and royal ambition, but through emotion, conflict, and the choices of ordinary people. From family feuds to the surprisingly savvy PR moves...

Who decides which stories get published and which are left out? In the debut episode of The Reading List by Bahrisons Booksellers, host Aashna Malhotra speaks with Aakriti Mandhwani, author of Everyday Reading, about the rich world of Hindi periodicals in post-partition India. From feminist debates in letters to the editor to the pocketbook revolution that redefined publishing, they unpack how pri...

At Bahrisons Booksellers, we’ve spent decades helping readers discover stories they love. Now, we’re bringing you closer to the storytellers themselves! The Reading List is our brand-new podcast celebrating Indian authors, and the bold voices, and the big ideas that bring their stories to life. If you love thoughtful conversations and a peek into the writer’s mind, you’ll feel right at home here....