Michael Holding, one of cricket’s greatest fast bowlers, reflects on the unexpected moment that transformed him into one of sports’ most respected moral voices. He opens up about the rain delay that led to his landmark speech on racism, and why his mission today extends far beyond cricket.

The Speech That Changed Everything:
Michael takes us back to the moment his powerful reflections on racism reached millions around the world and why he was ready to say what he had carried for decades. This became the foundation for Why We Kneel, How We Rise.

A Mother's Words:
One childhood memory has stayed with Michael all his life. Looking out of a window in New York, his mother watched a Black child and a White child playing together. She said, "Mikey, we have a chance." He reflects on a lifetime spent agitating for a world his mother dreamt of.

The Cost of Speaking Out:
From racist abuse during his playing career to stories shared by athletes including Thierry Henry and Usain Bolt, Michael talks about racism that extends far beyond sport. He reflects on why he didn't speak out publicly earlier and the emotional toll of writing this book.

Re-Educating the World:
For Michael, lasting change begins in the classroom. He argues that history has been selectively taught for centuries and that true equality depends on changing what children learn about the past.

Featured Clips in this episode:

Michael Holding leads emotional discussion about educating society on racism

West Indies legend Michael Holding breaks down discussing racism in the UK

Still I Rise Maya Angelou | Live & Unplugged

My XI - Geoffrey Boycott: Michael Holding - 'The fastest, and then some'

Michael holding, Whispering Death,

Black Lives Matter protesters march in Hyde Park and at Buckingham Palace

Masterclass | Michael Holding
Michael Holding vs Geoff Boycott 1981
Michael Holding's "old school" commentary
Very fast bowling - Michael Holding at Brisbane 1979

Michael Holding's ferocious spell at The Oval in 1976

Credits:

Host: Mallika Kapur

Mallika Kapur is an award-winning journalist and seasoned interviewer with over two decades of experience in television and live journalism. Across three countries and various impactful roles at CNN and Bloomberg, she has reported on major global events, including the London train bombings, the Indian Ocean tsunami and the Mumbai terror attacks. She also moderates news making panels at global forums, leading insightful conversations with the world’s top figures in business and culture.

Reach out on Instagram and LinkedIn

This is a Maed In India Production

Creative Director: Mae Mariyam Thomas

Project Manager: Shaun Fanthome

Sound Designer & Mix Engineer: Kartik Kulkarni

Producer: Rachna Sukuru

Assistant Producer: Aditi Sutar

Sound Engineer: Nihar Temkar

Artwork: Alika Gupta

Pip Williams, bestselling author of The Dictionary of Lost Words, reflects on the novel that began with one urgent question: who decides which words deserve to survive?

The Lost Words:
The first Oxford English Dictionary set out to document every word in the English language, but not every word made it in. Pip tells the remarkable true story of "bondmaid," a word genuinely omitted from the first edition, and explains how that single historical accident inspired Esme, the young girl who quietly rescues forgotten words from beneath the dictionary's sorting table.

Who Owns Language?
Words are never just words. Pip reflects on the hidden biases built into dictionaries, why language has historically favoured certain voices over others, and how communities reclaim words that were once used against them.

The Women History Forgot:
A visit to the Oxford archives uncovered an unexpected story, not about lexicographers, but about the women who physically made the books. Pip shares how a handful of forgotten photographs, signatures and archival fragments inspired The Bookbinder of Jericho, and why she continues to write about the people history quietly leaves behind.

The Writer Behind the Words:
Pip reflects on publishing her debut during the first Covid lockdown, becoming an international bestseller almost overnight, and navigating that success as a self-described introvert. She also opens up about growing up with dyslexia, and why she favours emotionally truthful endings rather than happy ones.

Featured Clips in this episode:

Suffragettes: 100 years since women won the right to vote

Credits:

Host: Mallika Kapur
Mallika Kapur is an award-winning journalist and seasoned interviewer with over two decades of experience in television and live journalism. Across three countries and various impactful roles at CNN and Bloomberg, she has reported on major global events, including the London train bombings, the Indian Ocean tsunami and the Mumbai terror attacks. She also moderates news making panels at global forums, leading insightful conversations with the world’s top figures in business and culture.

Reach out on Instagram and LinkedIn

This is a Maed In India Production

Creative Director: Mae Mariyam Thomas

Project Manager: Shaun Fanthome

Sound Designer & Mix Engineer: Kartik Kulkarni

Producer: Rachna Sukuru

Assistant Producer: Aditi Sutar

Sound Engineer: Nihar Temkar

Artwork: Alika Gupta

"She takes ancient stories and makes them quite modern." Meant as a criticism, poet, playwright and bestselling author Nikita Gill takes the barb as a compliment. In this conversation, she talks about her latest book, Hekate, and why ancient stories resonate today.

From The Seas, a Poet Emerges:
She set sail from Mumbai to Madagascar with her merchant navy father, and it was there, at twilight, as local poets gathered, that she discovered the true power of verse: not just as an art form, but as a community builder and a form of protest.

The Gift of Invisibility:
Before becoming a literary success, Nikita worked as a cleaner and a caregiver. Both experiences, Nikita says, were instructive for her as a writer. They taught her about class, about race, and what it means to be invisible -- she calls it a “gift.”

Where’s Home?
Born in Belfast to Kashmiri and Punjabi parents, Nikita is familiar with lands that carry contentious histories. Having lived in many countries, she is at home in several places at once. Home doesn’t have to be a “physical” space. It’s where your people are.

The Difficult Woman:
Nikita reflects on the community she’s built around her poetry: how the hate comments have fuelled her ambition, what it means to be a "difficult" woman, how that surfaces in her work, and why her writing will always be sacred, and true to her.

Featured Clips in this episode:
Jaipur Literature Festival 2026 | Day 3 Highlights & Promo

Credits:

Host: Mallika Kapur

Mallika Kapur is an award-winning journalist and seasoned interviewer with over two decades of experience in television and live journalism. Across three countries and various impactful roles at CNN and Bloomberg, she has reported on major global events, including the London train bombings, the Indian Ocean tsunami and the Mumbai terror attacks. She also moderates news making panels at global forums, leading insightful conversations with the world’s top figures in business and culture.

Reach out on Instagram and LinkedIn

This is a Maed In India Production

Creative Director: Mae Mariyam Thomas
Project Manager: Shaun Fanthome
Sound Designer & Mix Engineer: Kartik Kulkarni
Producer: Rachna Sukuru
Assistant Producer: Karan Solanki
Sound Engineer: Nihar Temkar
Artwork: Alika Gupta