TOI Bookmark podcast with Ranjit Lal
TOI Bookmark is a weekly podcast on literature and publishing. TOI is an acronym for the Times of India (TOI) which is the world’s largest newspaper and India’s No. 1 digital news platform with over 3 billion page views per month. The TOI website is one of the most visited news sites in the world with 200 million unique monthly visitors and about 1.6 billion monthly page views. TOI is the world’s largest English newspaper with a daily circulation of more than 4 million copies, across many editions, and is read daily by approximately 13.5 million readers. The podcasts are promoted across all TOI platforms. I have recorded more than 128+ sessions with Jnanpith, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shree awardees, International Booker Prize winners, Booker Prize winners, Women’s Prize for Fiction, Nobel Laureates, Pulitzer Prize, Stella Prize, AutHer Awards, Erasmus Prize, BAFTA etc. Sometimes the podcast interviews are carried across all editions of the print paper with a QR code embedded in it.
Some of the authors who have been interviewed are: Samantha Harvey, Jenny Erpenbeck, Michael Hoffman, Paul Murray, V. V. Ganeshananthan, Hisham Matar, Anita Desai, Amitava Kumar, Hari Kunzro, Venki Ramakishnan, Siddhartha Deb, Elaine Feeney, Manjula Padmanabhan, NYRB Classics editor and founder Edwin Frank, Jonathan Escoffery, Joya Chatterji, Arati Kumar-Rao, Paul Lynch, Dr Kathryn Mannix, Cat Bohannon, Sebastian Barry, Shabnam Minwalla, Paul Harding, Ayobami Adebayo, Pradeep Sebastian, G N Devy, Angela Saini, Manav Kaul, Amitav Ghosh, Damodar Mauzo, Boria Majumdar, Geetanjali Mishra, William Dalrymple, and Annie Ernaux.
It is always such a pleasure speaking with Ranjit Lal, award-winning writer who has an abiding interest in natural history, birds, animals and insects. Recording this fantabulous episode of #TOIBookmark is one such example.
Here is a snippet from our conversation:
“… you need a little patience. That is all. I have always considered that you do not have to go to Nature, Nature will come to you. Sit quietly in a place for half hour and things will start happening. You do not have to do anything. Just keep your eyes and ears open. “
Listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2rh1AguCGnF3wx5U8xXrWI…
Listen on the The Times of India website:
https://search.app/jsgTSxqJpfF8ES2a8
Buy the book that Ranjit Lal discusses, Our Potpourri Planet, published by HarperCollins India.
6 May 2025
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