Be honest. When was the last time you logged off because you wanted to, not because your battery died?

In this brand new episode of Books & Beyond, Tara sits down with Anurag Minus Verma, influencer, writer, and podcaster, to trace how the Indian internet went from cyber cafes and Orkut scraps to algorithms that know us better than we do.

From going down random rabbit holes and getting emotionally invested in strangers we’ve never met, to collectively losing our minds over the next big controversy, it all points to the same question: when did being online become the default setting, and what has it done to us in the process?

Talking about his book The Great Indian Brain Rot, Anurag and Tara get into the TikTok ban and the madness around it, the influence of Sushant Singh Rajput, and why influencer fame doesn’t always mean anything outside the app. He also talks about why so many creators want to shift to film or TV, and how podcasts have suddenly become the format everyone wants in on.

If your day starts and ends with a screen, and “just five minutes” never means five minutes, this episode is for you!

So press play. Then maybe, just maybe, touch some grass.

Books and Documentaries mentioned in the episode:

1. Never Logged Out: How the Internet Created India's Gen Z by Ria Chopra
2. Morality TV and Loving Jehad by Paromita Vohra (2007)
3. Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino
4. Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
5. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
6. Kasapa by Manohar Shyam Joshi

Imagine spending five days of uninterrupted creativity in a serene, century-old Indo-Portuguese villa. Join an exclusive group of twelve writers for a transformative writing retreat. 5 seats left, apply now!

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/annual-writers-retreat

Apply now: https://tinyurl.com/46rhn7hz

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Is Mumbai still a city for everyone, or just for those who can afford it?

In this episode of Books & Beyond, Tara sits down with veteran journalist and author Sidharth Bhatia to discuss his latest book, Mumbai: A Million Islands. The book is not about the history of Marine Lines or the Gateway of India, but the thing that actually builds this city... PEOPLE!

Tara and Sidharth explore the bubonic plague of 1896, the transformation of Parel’s textile mills into high-end malls, and what it’s like for 28 families to build a rooftop community, hauling groceries, furniture, and even dead bodies up by rope. They discuss displacement of both slum and middle-class communities, the stories of activist Gauri Sawant and Kanthibai of Kamathipura, and how walking across the city reveals the hidden lives and stories that often go unnoticed.

Whether you’re a lifelong Mumbaikar or a curious outsider, this episode is a love letter and a critique that will make you question what it truly means to belong in Mumbai today.

Books and Documentaries mentioned in the episode:

1. Bachelor Girls by Shikha Makan (2016)
2. Manto: Selected Short Stories by Saadat Hasan Manto
3. Night in Bombay by Louis Bromfield

Imagine spending five days of uninterrupted creativity in a serene, century-old Indo-Portuguese villa. Join an exclusive group of twelve writers for a transformative writing retreat. 5 seats left, apply now!

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/annual-writers-retreat

Apply now: https://tinyurl.com/46rhn7hz

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

What if the most important love story in your life isn’t romantic at all?

In our brand new episode, journalist and author Deepanjana Pal talks about her novel, Lightning in a Shot Glass. It’s a witty, radical look at two Mumbai flatmates navigating love, life, and ambition on their own terms.

Tara and Deepanjana dive into why female friendships are often the real love stories of our lives and how having chosen family keeps us grounded. They challenge the notion of genre hierarchies while showing that love stories can be smart and fun.

Deepanjana also gets candid about the messier parts of life, from workplace politics and abuse of authority to age-gap and interfaith romance. By bringing these real-world messes into the conversation, she proves that fiction can be both joyful and deeply authentic at the same time.

If you’re looking to dive into something that's as smart and fun as it is unapologetically real, this episode is for you!

Books and TV Shows mentioned in the episode:

1. Younger (2015)
2. Four More Shots Please! (2019)
3. Call Me Bae (2024)
4. Fleabag (2016)
5. The Family Man (2019)
6. A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan
7. Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley
8. The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley
9. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
10. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood

Imagine spending five days of uninterrupted creativity in a serene, century-old Indo-Portuguese villa. Join an exclusive group of twelve writers for a transformative writing retreat. 5 seats left, apply now!

Learn more: https://boundindia.com/retreats/annual-writers-retreat

Apply now: https://tinyurl.com/46rhn7hz

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India’s finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.