India Booked with Ayushi Mona

Set in Bombay during the Quit India movement, the book is about three children—Sakina, Zenobia and Mehul—who are eager to be a part of Indian freedom struggle. When Sakina realises that there’s an underground radio network and her Bela aunty is a part of it and that she might be ousted to the British Government, she and her friends help the Underground People’s Radio in their mission to evade the British police—while their mothers are just running a cooking club.

Read it for a glimpse of 1942 Bombay and the role the underground radio (and Usha Mehta!) played in the freedom struggle.

Join the author in a conversation with the host Ayushi Mona as they discuss multiple facets of the book and the author's journey. 

Based on the repercussions of the Burma War between British India and the Japanese Army, the book centres around Raji and her sisters who are sent off to live in Manikoil, in their mother’s village in 1944. Away from the war but also terribly embroiled in it through her brother who decides to enlist in the British Indian Army, Raji feels the whiff of independence in the air. When Ilavarasi, her new friend, also lets on that she’s a refugee of the war, Raji is forced to come to terms with its devastation. Amidst all this, rumours swirl that Gandhi thatha might be assassinated prompting the freedom fighters to enlist the help of Raji and her friend Lakshmi to deliver secret letters discreetly.

The book provides a glimpse into the role South had to play during the freedom struggle apart from touching upon themes such as girls’ education and empowerment.

Our podcast delves into the Behind the Scenes journey of Aditi's experience while writing the book.

Through six chapters dedicated to a mostly unknown village in Bengal and its craft, Payal Mohanka paints a picture of the rural crafting communities that produce rather unusual crafts objects like wigs, decorative lights, polo balls, boats, shuttlecocks and jeans.

As a journalist, when Payal was filing four-minute capsules on each of these activities for the India Business Report on BBC World Service television, she made a decision to capture these activities in more detail. After a decade Payal Mohanka returned to these six villages; Baniban Jagdishpur, Chandernagor, Deulpur, Balagarh, Jadurberia and Chatta Kalikapur and the result is this book.

Join her with host Ayushi Mona as she shares her peculiar and fascinating journey. 

Tanjore, 1942

There are few excitements in Thambi's quiet life. There is the new hotel, disapproved of by elders, which lures him with the aroma of sambar with onions. There are visits to the library to read the newspaper, and once in a while, a new movie at the Rajaram Electric Theatre. More disagreeably, there are fortnightly visits from his uncle to lay down the law.

When Gandhiji announces the Quit India movement, Tanjore is torn apart by protests. The train station-the lifeline of the town-is vandalized. Mysterious leaflets are circulated, containing news that newspapers do not publish. And inspired by the idea of a free India and his own dreams of being an engineer, Thambi must find the courage to do what he believes is right-even when it endangers all he holds dear.

The Songs of Freedom series explores the lives of children across India during the struggle for independence.

Join author Devika Rangachari in a conversation with host, Ayushi Mona to discuss her writing and research process.

Calcutta, 1928

As the student protests gather momentum all across Calcutta, and police atrocities grow, ten-year-old Bithi wants to join in the struggle for freedom.

But living in a society where her best friend is to be married and just the fact that she is going to school is regarded with disapproval, how can Bithi play a substantial part? How can she fight those who are dearest to her? Discouraged but not daunted, Bithi schemes and plots and lies and is drawn into unexpected danger-all for the sake of fighting injustice in all its forms.

The Songs of Freedom series explores the lives of children across India during the struggle for independence. Join author Lesley Biswas and host, Ayushi Mona in a vibrant conversation on what the freedom struggle narrative for India looked like, from the eyes of children.

Join author VR Devika and host Ayushi Mona as they describe the indomitable spirit of a woman who campaigned to get rid of the practice of wet nurses, fought for girls’ education and widow remarriage, equal property rights for women, education reform, and rural healthcare for women. She took up the case of getting the practice of dedicating young girls as Devadasis, abolished.

This monograph describes how Dr Reddy established Avvai Home for poor and destitute girls, from where thousands have graduated and found their feet. Thereafter, following a successful career as a specialist in gynaecology and obstetrics, she founded the Cancer Institute in Adyar, Chennai, which has grown to be an iconic hospital for cancer treatment throughout Asia.

About the Author

VR Devika is a well-known story teller, educationist and Gandhi scholar, with a PhD on MK Gandhi’s communication strategies. She is known as a cultural activist, having been associated with the inception of Chennai’s Dakshinachitra Heritage Museum and Tamil Nadu INTACH. Trained in Bharatanatyam, she lectures on dance and cultural heritage. Winner of several awards, Devika contributes frequently to leading publications in India and abroad. She is the founder trustee of The Aseema Trust linking traditional performing arts and education, to bring Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals of non-violence to children.

Iridescent Skin is the first of its kind multispecies ethnography on humans and white sharks, entangled through the practice of cage diving at the very end of New Zealand. It is based on an immersive field work of marine anthropologist Prof. Raj Sekhar Aich, and his friend, research assistant, and anthropologist—Soosan Lucas, as they go in search of the elusive and mystified Great White Sharks of Foveaux Strait.

This is not a ‘shark book’, although it revolves around sharks in the classical sense of the manner. It is also not merely an academic book, although it is based on detailed academic investigation. Neither is it an exploration of shark behaviour or ecology, although they are certainly part of it, and no, it is not even a book about shark attacks, although shark bites are featured here. It is, on the surface, a sensory narrative of human and white shark encounters, but beneath the ripples, it is a story of love: among humans, rivers, oceans, bricks, stones, and sharks.

Join author Raj Sekhar and the host on this episode of India Booked!

Are you someone who asks a lot of questions that contains, but why?. Why did humans invent money? Why do we need to pay interest when we borrow money? Why are so many people trying to sell me insurance-linked investments? Why do experts suggest investing in stocks when the prices swing all over the place? Why do some swear by index funds, while some suggest real estate? Why do they present historic data to support their products while also saying past performance is no guarantee of future returns? Why are so many people investing in cryptocurrency? 

Join indie author M.T. Raghunath as he helps us understand several basic concepts and provides us with a framework to reason from first principles so that you can ask and answer such questions on your own, when it comes to investing money!

Homi Jehangir Bhabha was a nuclear physicist who pioneered the Indian nuclear research programme. Often hailed as the father of India’s nuclear power project, his ambition, far sightedness and enterprise shaped the development of modern science in India. Understanding the need for achieving self-reliance, he laid the framework for nuclear research in India by founding theTata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET), later renamed Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in his honour. Bhabha achieved international prominence for his trailblazing studies in the field of Atomic Energy, while his role of scientist-diplomat, handled with aplomb, gained worldwide recognition in the global arena.

In this episode of India Booked, Ayushi & Prof. Biman Nath dive into his life. 

The Worlds Within You tells the story of Ami Shekar, who has decided to take a break from her first year of university in the UK and return to her home in Chennai. Ami is stuck, and finds herself fretting, overthinking and retreating into her own head. But she knows that whatever it is that makes her feel 'weird' all the time must have a name to it. And so, Ami is back home, to come to terms with many things: her mental health, her own identity, memories of her grandfather and, finally, herself.

Set over the course of seven writing classes, this an unconventional and melancholic take on what it means to be alive and finding your own emotional support system-no matter how flawed the people within your system might be.

Author, Shreya Ramachandran grew up in Chennai and studied South Asian literature and history. She writes about mental health on her blog, and her work has also appeared in The Hindu, the Swaddle and Spark magazine. She currently lives in Mumbai with an indie dog who behaves part cat. This is her first novel.

Join Ayushi, our host as she and Shreya discuss multifaceted ways of the way we have worlds within us.

In Everyday Superfoods, bestselling author and nutritionist Dr Nandita Iyer brings to you everything you need to know about easily available local superfoods and ways to incorporate them into your diet. Through 60 simple recipes using an arsenal of 39 superfoods easily found in Indian kitchens, this book will not just help you understand your relationship with food but also show you how to improve your eating habits and enrich your daily meals with the goodness of superfoods. 

This book includes:
-Details on specific superfoods for boosting immunity, treating diabetes and for better skin and hair;
-Daily meal plans, how to shop for the right superfoods, the kind of utensils to use for cooking, superfood swaps, creating your own recipes, cooking for lunch boxes and how to set up a kitchen garden;
-A serious look at sustainability in superfoods, including more biodiverse produce, reducing food waste and being a conscious consumer. 
At a time when living healthier is paramount, this book will act as an essential guide to unlocking the very best attributes of your food.

When WHO first declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020, there was a great deal of apprehension about how India - the country with the highest TB cases and diabetes, inadequate health infrastructure and a population of 1.3 billion - would fare. 

Between the Janata Curfew and the first vaccinations, a piece of massive machinery has been working as seamlessly as possible to make sure that, despite some missteps and missed infections, India conquers what has been the greatest challenge the world has encountered in decades.

Covering the pandemic from the start, first for The Indian Express and then for ThePrint, Abantika Ghosh has had a ringside view of India's battle against the pandemic. A thrilling tale of unnamed thousands battling against a little-understood virus from the frontlines, Billions Under Lockdown brings that gripping theatre and its dramatis personae to life.

In this episode, host Ayushi Mona explores this with Abantika.

All You Need is Josh: Inspiring Stories of Courage and Conviction in 21st Century India is a book of hope in a world of cynicism. 

The book is a stories of individuals across India – of the aspiring astrophysicist who wanted to walk on the moon; the first person with a disability to top the civil services examinations; the domestic help who is now a published author; the army officer who amputated his own leg; the transgender woman who was expelled from her house; the Dalit child bride who now runs a business worth Rs 1,000 crore, and many more.

This episode is a freewheeling chat between the editor, Supriya Paul and the host Ayushi Mona on the genesis and the background behind Supriya's work at Josh Talks. 

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