Books and Beyond with Bound

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 decep...

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 ac...

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 re...

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 beg...

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 dop...

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, Kapit...

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,...

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....

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 chroni...

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 emoti...

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 f...

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...

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 wo...

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 Partit...

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 tryin...

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...

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 expressio...

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 T...

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....

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...

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 brou...

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 creat...

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 a...

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...

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, ang...