The Reading List by Bahrisons Booksellers

The Birds, Trees, and Secret Life of Delhi: Neha Sinha on Wild Capital

Do you ever stop to notice the birds, trees, and animal life around you? In this episode of The Reading List, Neha Sinha joins us to discuss her new book Wild Capital and the hidden ecological life of Delhi. From childhood memories of growing up in the city to her environmental work across biodiversity parks in Delhi, Neha reflects on what it means to truly pay attention to the natural world around us. We talk about disappearing bird and plant life, urban conservation, and the surprising ways nature continues to survive within one of India’s largest cities. This conversation is an invitation to slow down, observe more closely, and see Delhi differently. WILD CAPITAL is releasing as MY WILD CITY in the US and UK in September 2026.

Breakfast, Identity, and Urban India: Priyadarshini Chatterjee on First Bite

Breakfast is often seen as the simplest meal of the day, but it carries stories of memory, migration, labour, and identity. In this episode of The Reading List, Priyadarshini Chatterjee joins us to discuss her debut book, First Bite, where she travels across ten Indian cities to explore the cultural and historical significance of the morning meal. From street-side staples to deeply local traditions, we talk about how ecology and migration shape what cities eat, how work and daily rhythms influence the first meal, and how breakfast quietly challenges the idea of India as a predominantly vegetarian country.

Journeys, Chance, and the Indian Railways: Rahul Bhattacharya on Railsong

How does one build a life within a system that never stops moving? This week on The Reading List, Rahul Bhattacharya joins us to talk about Railsong, a novel that traces the life of Charu within the vast world of the Indian Railways. Through the world of Railsong, we explore Rahul’s writing practice, the origins of the book, and the making of Charu, a character shaped by observation, movement, and change. He also speaks about his enduring fascination with the Indian Railways, and how the novel captures a world that feels shared, yet remains deeply divided. A conversation about systems, stories, and the lives that move through them.

Home, Love, Elsewhere: Sarnath Banerjee on Absolute Jafar

What does it mean to feel at home in a city, in a relationship, in your own life? In this episode of The Reading List, Sarnath Banerjee joins us to talk about Absolute Jafar, a deeply personal graphic novel shaped over several years. Moving between Delhi and Berlin, we explore questions of belonging and how love and family are shaped by distance, memory, and borders. We also touch on his creative process, the role of AI in art today, and why hyper-local storytelling matters more than ever. If you have ever questioned where home really is, this conversation will stay with you.

When History Haunts a City: Monuments & Memory with Eric Chopra

What does it mean for a city to be haunted? In this episode of The Reading List by Bahrisons Booksellers, Aashna Malhotra speaks with historian Eric Chopra about his book Ghosted and the strange afterlives of Delhi’s monuments. Through sites like Jamali Kamali, Firoz Shah Kotla, Khooni Darwaza, and Malcha Mahal, they explore how places gather memory, myth, and meaning over centuries. Moving between folklore, archival research, and lived experience, the conversation looks at historical erasure and public memory, and asks an enduring question: what happens when the past refuses to stay in the past?