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Books and Authors

Books and Authors

Auteur(s): Hindustan Times - HT Smartcast
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 In this podcast, National Books Editor Manjula Narayan tells you about books, authors and their journeys. This is a Hindustan Times production, brought to you by HT Smartcast Art Sciences sociales
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  • Following her own beat

    Following her own beat
    Sep 5 2025
    "When we write about music history, we are mostly talking about artists. There are also fewer biographies, autobiographies and memoirs by instrumentalists. But can the instrument itself become the protagonist to tell us our story? This has been one of my concerns as a practitioner. The ghatam is present in music across the country. It is an instrument with personality and has a central role in folk music. But, in classical music, it takes a back seat. My quest was to foreground a lot of things that are not spoken about in writing about music. This is an attempt to make visible things that are not visible to readers and listeners. These microstories would be good for people to know. This book also comes from a strong conviction that women need to write their own stories; otherwise they don't get written. Difficult things come back to you while writing a memoir but you also make many beautiful discoveries on the way. For me, my ghatam embodies everything that has gone before. My entire life is held in the pot now; it holds my singing as well. All the things I used to express a singer, I now express on the matka," says Sumana Chandrashekar, author, Song of the Clay Pot; My Journey With the Ghatam, Here, she talks to Manjula Narayan about everything from her relationships with her guru Sukanya Ramgopal, her guru's guru Vikku Vinayakram, and master ghatam maker Meenakshi Amma to how appearance plays a big role in the image of a performing artist, misogyny in Carnatic music circles, and the effect of unplanned urbanisation on instrument making. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    58 min
  • Brayed of tongue

    Brayed of tongue
    Aug 29 2025
    "Generally in India, the moment you see deviant behaviour, you immediately label the person 'mad'. But at least now, in some circles, the attitude towards seeking psychological help is changing. Some of these stories show how women with mental health issues become especially vulnerable. We see this so often in news articles. So these stories are right out of the society we live in." - Nabanita Sengupta and Nishi Pulugurtha, editors, Bandaged Moments; Stories of Mental Health by Women Writers from Indian Languages, talk to Manjula Narayan about putting together this collection of 26 stories from 17 Indian languages, what's lost and found in the process of translation, and about presenting in English the accurate cultural nuances of such varied tongues as Telegu, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi and Tamil and dialects like Magahi, Bhojpuri and Silchar Bangla. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    56 min
  • Of public chaos and amateur Indians stranded on islands of privilege

    Of public chaos and amateur Indians stranded on islands of privilege
    Aug 21 2025
    "I feel India's politics is the revenge of the poor; it's why things are the way they are. They might not look at it as a violent act but it emerges from some kind of violence against us, the middle class. Whatever politicians do, usually there is local support. So it's a peep into human nature. We were always paying a price to escape India. Now, it costs a lot of money to fully escape. Now, it seems even if you pay 200 crores for a flat, you can't escape the air! We look much poorer than we are while most nations look much richer than they are. Unconsciously, India has developed an optical device to comfort the poor to whom public places belong. If there's too much order in India it would upset the poor. India's public chaos is the only thing going for them; it kind of resembles their lives. What the elite wants is some kind of aesthetics, which they are unable to persuade the political class to execute" - Manu Joseph, author, Why The Poor Don't Kill Us; The Psychology of Indians talks to Manjula Narayan about urban chaos, poverty being relative, and why intellectuals are invariably wrong Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    47 min
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