Interview: Bachi Karkaria
Friday, 29 May, 2020
What are you currently reading?
Manto's Bombay Stories; restarting Amitav Ghosh's Hungry Tide* because of Amphan; Ramachandra Guha, Siddharth Varadarajan's Twitter Feed, Janan Ganesh's (newly discovered) column in FT; NYT Cooking.
- *Find it on Penguin (link to purchase)
What are you currently watching?
Billions; The Half of It; the Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals every Friday; and as engaging time-pass Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.
And what have you been listening to lately?
Len Cohen, especially Anthem; Billy Joel.
What is one book everyone should read and why?
It really is a matter of personal appeal.
Tell us about a book you keep going back to?
Atul Gawande's Better, for its lessons; Marquez's Cholera, for its magical descriptions, the sheer power of its humanity.
- Find Better on Amazon (link to purchase)
- Find Love in the Time of Cholera on Amazon (link to purchase)
What is your favourite under-appreciated novel?
Perhaps the one i'll finally get down to writing. 🙂
Do you have a favourite spot to read?
Curled up on my settee.
What is your favourite place to write?
More convenient than favourite: my dining table because of the light, air, fantastic breeze, the greenery on my strip balcony—and proximity to the front door and its nuisance bell. No minions to do the answering. 😎
Bachi Karkaria
Bachi is a game changer in India’s journalism, having created path-breaking brands for the country’s Times Group. She is also a popular columnist, best-selling author and international media trainer. She was the first Indian board member of the Paris-based World Editors Forum, is a Jefferson Fellow from Hawaii’s East West Center, and recipient of the Mary Morgan Hewitt Award for Lifetime Achievement. She designed and curated the much-imitated Times Litfest, Mumbai, for nine years.
Follow her on Twitter @BachiKarkaria and her weekly column Erratica
About Summer Fridays
Summer Fridays is a brand new blog series by Asia Society India Centre, profiling established cultural influencers and rising stars in various fields. Each week we feature conversations, interviews, recipes, playlists, and more—on art, food, music, literature, and film.