A Book A Day - A Literary Podcast from India

The Partition of India was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, India and Pakistan. The whole event, which took place in 1947, was preceded and succeeded by countless instances of riots and violence. It is in this setting I narrate you a sad short story written by a Punjabi writer Mohinder Singh Sarna.

David Hume was a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, who is best known today for his highly influential system of philosophical empiricism, skepticism, and naturalism. I discuss some of his interesting ideas in today's podcast.

Judith Jarvis Thomson was an American philosopher who studied and worked on ethics and metaphysics. She wrote a moral philosophy essay titled A Defense of Abortion in 1971. This has been widely read and discussed on the issue of abortion. I discuss her arguments in today's podcast.

Robert Wilson Lynd was an Irish writer, editor of poetry and urbane literary essayist. In today's podcast, I treat you with one of his essays titled The Pleasures of Ignorance. This essay truly agitates the readers' minds and rekindles the desire for rational thinking. Enjoy.

"The Mirror" is a short story about a selfish queen that does not like to be seen because of her hideous appearance. It was written by Catulle Mendes more than a century ago but it still captivates the modern reader. I narrate this story in today's podcast.

Rakhshanda Jalil, in her book titled Preeto and Other Stories: The Male Gaze in Urdu, brings us a collection of short stories originally written in Urdu and shows how Urdu male writers have been able to capture a woman's emotions perfectly. In this podcast, I narrate a beautiful short story written Gulzar.

Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from AD 161 to 180, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. In today's podcast, I summarise the wisdom contained in this book.

The Panchatantra is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story. The surviving work is dated to roughly 200 BCE – 300 CE, based on older oral tradition. Today, I narrate a story from this repository of fascinating tales.

Romila Thapar is an Indian historian. Her principal area of study is ancient India, a field in which she is pre-eminent. In this podcast, I narrate one of her essays on Indian nationalism and its history.

Rupert Spira is an English teacher of the "direct path", a method of spiritual self-enquiry through talks and writing. In his book The Nature of Consciousness, he challenges the prevailing materialist paradigm that is holding humanity back, suggesting that consciousness is the fundamental reality of the apparent duality of mind and matter, and that overlooking or ignoring this reality is the root...

Khalil Gibran, usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran, was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist, also considered a philosopher although he himself rejected the title. In today's podcast, I narrate some of his stories which are really short and truly profound.

Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar was an Indian polymath - philosopher, jurist, economist, politician, social reformer, journalist, writer, sociologist, and anthropologist. His views on religions and the partition of India because of religion are quite interesting and worth reading. I read some pages of his book in this podcast.

Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher who became one of the most influential of all modern thinkers. In his book On the Genealogy of Morality, Nietzsche traces episodes in the evolution of moral concepts with a view to confronting "moral prejudices", specifically those of Christianity and Judaism. I discuss these ideas in today's podcast.

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics have made him one of the most influential figures in modern Western philosophy. In this podcast, I discuss Kant's theory of morality.

The renowned American neuroscientist David Eagleman for a journey into the questions at the mysterious heart of our existence. What is reality? Who are “you”? How do you make decisions? Why does your brain need other people? How is technology poised to change what it means to be human? All this he tries to answer in his book called The Brain.

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing struggle between Israelis and Palestinians that began in the mid-20th century. What we are seeing right now is only a glimpse of its decade-long history. Many of you who have been asking for book recommendations on this subject, which I do make in this podcast alongside giving you an overview on the history of it.

William Sydney Porter, better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American short story writer. He wrote many, many short stories, all of which deserve to be read, and one of which I narrate in this podcast. Hope you will enjoy.

Perumal Murugan’s tender yet truthful essays capture the life of a strong, independent and extraordinary woman: his mother. She raised her children with the income from just a few acres of land that she managed on her own, tending to the cattle and crops with maternal concern, all the while minding her unruly husband. I read out one of the essays which revolves around the food she would cook.

A Confession, or My Confession, is a short work on the subject of melancholia, philosophy and religion by the acclaimed Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy. It was written in 1879 to 1880, when Tolstoy was in his early fifties and going through a kind of mid-life crisis. I read out the last couple of pages in this podcast.

Farzana Shaikh in her book Making Sense of Pakistan argues the country’s decline is rooted primarily in uncertainty about the meaning of Pakistan and the significance of ‘being Pakistani’. This has pre-empted a consensus on the role of Islam in the public sphere and encouraged the spread of political Islam. I read a few excerpts from the book to give you an idea of it.

Rupert Spira in his book The Transparency of Things tries to look clearly and simply at the nature of experience, without any attempt to change it. A series of contemplations leads us gently but directly to see that our essential nature is neither a body nor a mind. It is philosophy combined with spirituality - something that has been the culture in the East. The author contemplates on the nature...

Three Men in a Boat, published in 1889, is a humorous account by English writer Jerome K. Jerome of a two-week boating holiday on the Thames from Kingston upon Thames to Oxford and back to Kingston. But that's not the reason I discuss it in today's podcast. My reason is to show you the funny side of hypochondria in these difficult times of Coronavirus.

The Dhammapada is a collection of sayings of the Buddha in verse form and one of the most widely read and best known Buddhist scriptures. In this podcast, I read out a few lessons from this collection.

The Lottery Ticket is a short story by Anton Chekhov about a middle-class couple that believes they have won the lottery. Ivan Dmitritch is skeptical of his wife spending money on lottery tickets and believes she is wasting money on them. The story gives you a glimpse of a love-hate relationship. I narrate this story in today's podcast.

Rumi was a 13th-century Persian poet, Hanafi faqih, Islamic scholar, Maturidi theologian, and Sufi mystic originally from Greater Khorasan in Greater Iran. While mostly known for his poetry and Sufism, Rumi has also written a few short stories - written in his own poetic style, of course - which are quite popular across the world. I narrate a couple of these short stories in this podcast.