A Book A Day - A Literary Podcast from India

In her collection of essays, Arundhati Roy critiques Indian government from multiple perspectives. I read a few pages from her essay called Azadi where she examines the question of freedom for Kashmiris, challenging us to reflect on the meaning of freedom in a country of growing right-wing influence.

Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy is a spiritual book by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. The book is intended to be a spiritual guide with practices for personal growth, and also a look at the author's own spiritual journey. The book talks about body, mind and energy, and how we can work on all three through Yoga practices. I talk about that book in this podcast.

 The philosophy of Confucius—Confucianism—emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, kindness, and sincerity. He remains a widely appreciated figure in the story of Chinese philosophy. I discuss it briefly.

The School of Life is nothing short of a crash course in emotional intelligence. With all the trademark wit and elegance of Alain de Botton's other writings, and rooted in practical, achievable advice, the book is the kind of self-help one needs while going through various emotional and mental health challenges.

The Argumentative Indian is a book written by Nobel Prize winning Indian economist Amartya Sen. It is a collection of essays that discuss India's history and identity, focusing on the traditions of public debate and intellectual pluralism. In this podcast, I read out the first few pages of the very first essay which is titled as The Argumentative Indian.

An Area of Darkness is a book written by V. S. Naipaul in 1964. It is a travelogue detailing Naipaul's trip through India in the early sixties. In this podcast, I read out a few pages in which he is travelling through Kashmir and witnessing the social and political situation.

Kabir Das was a 15th-century Indian mystic poet and saint, whose writings influenced Hinduism's Bhakti movement and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture Guru Granth Sahib. His poetry is still celebrated all over India and symbolises the rich culture.

The Strange Death of Europe is a 2017 book by the British journalist and political commentator Douglas Murray. It covers three major ideas in the context of Europe: Immigration, Identity and Islam. I read a few pages from the book in this podcast.

The classic teaching by a Tibetan master Chögyam Trungpa continues to inspire both beginners and long-time practitioners of Buddhist meditation. I discuss the basic ideas of meditation with the help of these texts.

Ritual is part of what it means to be human. Like sports, music, and drama, ritual defines and enriches culture, putting those who practice it in touch with sources of value and meaning larger than themselves. I share author Barry Stephenson's ideas on rituals in this podcast.

The great Anglo-American poet W. H. Auden is widely remembered for his tone, style and ability to communicate through human emotions. I recite one of his beautiful, short poem called Lullaby. Happy Sleeping!

Buddha was one of the earliest philosophers in human history. His profound wisdom, insights on human suffering, meditation methods are valid even today, to everyone within and outside the Buddhist belief system.

Bhagavad Gita is a sacred text in Hindu philosophy which pays a lot of attention to our actions, inactions and way to lead a meaningful life. I read a few verses from this book.

We are readers. But what does thing called Reading really mean? We talk about our reading material all the time, let's talk about reading itself in this podcast.

Bhagat Singh was an Indian revolutionary who inspired a generation of Indians to fight against the British rule. Till date his story is heard in every corner of India. He was also an atheist and he has written about his views on atheism in his book which I discuss in this podcast.

Guy de Maupassant was a famous French short story writer. His short stories feel as fresh and relevant today as they were in the 19th and 20th century.

Reciting this famous poem by British Romantic poet Lord Byron. It was first published in 1815. The poem praises and seeks to capture a sense of the beauty of a particular woman. 

In her debut novel The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy raised the bar of novel-writing so high that she herself would struggle to go beyond that. I read the first few pages of the book to give you a taste of her writing.

Ben Okri's Booker Prize winning trilogy The Famished Road carries the beauty of magical realism. I read out a few passages from the book.

William Wordsworth's poem describes the romance upon seeing a rainbow. I recite this poem for you hoping that you will recite it too when you see a rainbow the next time.

Today I narrate excerpts from a short story from James Joyce's short story collection called Dubliners. The 20th century Irish culture in Dublin is brilliantly captured by one of the great writers of all time.

Derek Walcott was one of the greatest English language poets. The Nobel prize winning poet left a large repository of works behind him. I read his poem titled Love After Love in this podcast.

In his book What's Wrong with the World, GK Chesterton presents his arguments critiquing the modern ideas. His arguments are both powerful and amusing. I read out a part of the book to give you a taste of what it is all about.

On the 100th episode of this podcast, allow me to narrate a horror story. It was written in 1934 by Julius Long. It tells the story of man living in a small country hotel who becomes obsessed with the only other guest there.

Upanishads are a collection of texts which explores various philosophical ideas in Hinduism. One of the important ideas is the age old question of Who Am I? I narrate a story from one of the Upanishads.