Books and Beyond with Bound
Welcome to India’s No. 1 book podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover the stories behind some of the best-written books of our time. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, and insecurities to publishing journeys. And how these books shape our lives and worldview today.
Tune in every Wednesday!
Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Get in touch with us at [email protected].
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 49 minutes
- Episodes
- 174
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
4.9 Sudha Murty: On Being A Grandmother And Writing For Children
Find out how she turns herself into a 5 year old to write children's books.
Sudha Murty talks about her writing journey and why she has opened so many libraries throughout India.Why is it important f…
4.8 Tara And Michelle: What Are Migration Stories And Do They Need To Change?
Tara and Michelle discuss what migration means to them and what kind of stories are missing from the migration narrative.
From partition to season migrants, from traveling abroad for higher education…
4.7 Riva Razdan: Dissecting The Feminist Romance Genre
Find out what it means to write a ‘feminist romance’ and what differentiates it from a typical romance novel.
Tara and Michelle chat with Riva about why she set her debut novel ‘Arzu’ in the 90s libe…
4.6 Aastha Atray Banan: What It Means To Be A Love Guru
Find out how she became an expert of romance and relationships through her romance books and podcast.
Tara and Michelle chat with Aastha about why India and Bollywood are obsessed with love! Aastha s…
4.5 Tanushree Podder: Representing Women In The Army Through Fiction
Find out how she presents the experiences and rigorous training that women go through in her latest army book.
In this Editor Special episode, Tara chats with Tanushree about her experiences as an ‘ar…
4.4 Shivani Sibal: Revealing Complex Class Equations in Delhi Society
Find out why she decided to explore male friendship and class differences in her debut novel.
Tara and Michelle chat with Shivani about how she chose the title ‘Equations’ and the challenge of diving …
4.3 Kavitha Rao: Chronicling The Lives Of India’s First Women Doctors
Find out how she sheds light on the lost stories of extraordinary women in medicine in her non-fiction book.
Tara and Michelle chat with Kavitha Rao about her research process - piecing together inf…
4.2 Amitav Ghosh: Highlighting The Reality Of Climate Change
Find out how he revolutionizes the way we write about the environment, starting with the story of the nutmeg!
In this special episode, Tara and Michelle dissect the work of award-winning author Amitav…
4.1 Tara and Michelle: Do Indian Female Characters Pass The Bechdel Test?
Find out how women are represented in Indian books and films today.
Kick off season 4 with a deep dive into gender and representation with Tara and Michelle! They share their favourite books and movi…
Manu Pillai: Uncovering The Real Lives Of India’s Maharajas (BONUS)
Tara and Michelle reconnect with Manu Pillai about writing and publishing his latest book, ‘False Allies’ during the pandemic.
Manu explains how and why he used Raja Ravi Varma’s art to direct his re…
3.15 Tara and Michelle: Should Stories Have A Moral Responsibility?
In this season finale, Tara and Michelle talk about cancel culture, trigger warnings, and their favourite season 3 episodes.
From Lolita to Friends to Harry Potter, Tara and Michelle discuss the quest…
3.14 Anubha Yadav: Capturing The Darkest Secrets of Men
Find out how she explores masculinity in India through the coming of age story of 3 brothers in her book, ‘The Anger of Saintly Men’.
Anubha shares how she came up with the idea of writing about the t…
3.13 Janaki Lenin: Bringing The Wildlife Into Every House Through Writing
Find out how she brings animal science and wildlife conversation to life in her latest book, ‘Every Creature Has a Story’.
Janaki talks about how she accidentally got into wildlife research and how sh…
3.12 Aanchal Malhotra: Remembering Partition Through Oral Histories
Find out how she uses objects to uncover untold stories about the Partition for her book, ‘Remnants of a Separation’.
Aanchal shares her family’s history with partition and why she decided to use obj…
3.11 Farah Bashir: A Window To Growing Up In 1990s Kashmir
Find out how she provides a glimpse into the experiences and challenges of growing up in war-torn Kashmir through her memoir, ‘Rumours Of Spring: A Girlhood In Kashmir’.
Farah tells us why she decide…
3.10 Yasser Usman: The Biographer That Captures Bollywood’s Golden Era
Find out how he uncovers the untold stories and troubled lives of Bollywood celebrities like Rajesh Khanna, Rekha, Sanjay Dutt and Guru Dutt in his biographies.
Yasser breaks down his research proces…
3.09 Saba Karim Khan: Writing An India-Pakistan Love Story
Find out how she captured the red-light district of Lahore and wrote a compelling and nuanced love story in her debut novel, ‘Skyfall’.
Saba shares how her writing is inspired by her father and why s…
3.8 Rohini S. Rajagopal: The Reality Of Infertility In India - A Medical Memoir
Find out how she captured her journey with infertility and years of medical research into her one-of-a-kind medical memoir, ‘What's a Lemon Squeezer Doing in My Vagina?'
Rohini shares her writing proc…
3.7 Moni Mohsin: Using Social Satire To Capture The #MeToo Movement In Pakistan
Tara talks to the talented Pakistani writer, Moni Mohsin, about how she uses social satire to comment on current events in her 2 bestselling books ‘The Diary of a Social Butterfly’ and ‘The Impeccab…
3.6 Arunava Sinha and Anita Agnihotri: Farmers' Plight In India - A Translation
Tara and Michelle talk to bestselling Bengali author Anita Agnihotri and expert translator of 60+ books, Arunava Sinha, about their latest book ‘The Sickle’, the writer-translator relationship and th…