(Ex-banker and author of Busy Women: Building Commerce and Culture in Middle India)

2025 was my year of writing. I enter 2026 with two books of my own: Busy Women, a travelling commentary on contemporary tier two India through the lives of women, and a collection of poems in Hindi. I subscribe to the old school idea that reading is necessary for good writing, so I find my year-end list to be dominated by books about India. I referenced popular books on India by Tharoor, Naipaul, Pankaj Mishra, Nandan Nilekani, Rama Bijapurkar, Pavan Varma, and Gurcharan Das and others. But here, I want to include four books that should also be read, for equally good reasons.

India’s Finance Ministers: Different Strokes (1998-2014) by A.K Bhattacharya

On the top of this stack for me is Bhattacharya’s book. This is the third part of a well-written and researched series on post-Independence finance ministers. As I travelled for my book through 30 cities of India, staring at the infrastructure or inequality, the years covered in this book started to come alive. I really enjoyed the meticulous, almost-gripping recounting of events and conversations that have shaped the lifestyles and choices of generations to come.

India Moving: A History of Migration by Chinmay Tumbe

This book engages with the contentious identity question — who is an Indian? What I liked about this book was its unpretentious writing that can seem sweeping at times but gives the book a page turning quality. From ancient explorations to orchestrated population ‘export’ by colonisers and modern migration, the book traces ideas, geographies and cultural forces that shape the fluid identity of Indians, resisting attempts to box in or affix a nativistic religious, geographic or linguistic stamp. This book makes one realise how simple answers cannot fit complex problems.

Meet the Savarnas: Indian Millennials Whose Mediocrity Broke Everything by Ravikant Kisana

In Busy Women I explore the fantastic-or-failed experiments of the Indian economy from a gender lens so I was intrigued by Kisana’s book. It is a 2025 book, written by a millennial writer, who talks of the glass floor, an inversion of the famous glass ceiling. Using a mix of personal experiences and the academic perch, Kisana boldly scrutinises traditional Savarna institutions and leaders and their role in perpetuating an iniquitous and unfair system that eventually does not quite work for anyone.

Memes of Mummyji — Making Sense of Post Smartphone India by Santosh Desai

This book is a late release of the year that promises to be great read, just like his earlier one, Mother Pious Lady: Making Sense of Everyday India, which I read in 2025. With characteristic wit, Desai digs into the eccentricities and sociological realities of the modern Indian household and workplace, now exposing the hypocrisies in the modern matrimonial column, now commenting on the quirks of the toothpaste squeezer, always keeping you alert to seeing yourself in that newly affluent’ing middle class culture!

Prabha Narasimhan (MD & CEO, Colgate-Palmolive India)

What you are looking for is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama

I have a friend who recommends the most wonderful, offbeat books. This year she recommended this book by Michiko Aoyama. Under the genre of “healing fiction”, the book centres around a librarian in a small Japanese town who has the innate ability to understand what someone is going through and gives an added extra along with the book the person is looking to borrow, every time.

It seems each person’s story is independent but actually they are all linked. The book explores the idea, that books on their own don’t change your life, but they can and do provide the spark to change it yourself. A lovely read, heartwarming and beautiful.

Alchemy: The Magic of Original Thinking by Rory Sutherland

Jumping genres, my second favourite book for the year was Alchemy. As the long title states this book is about the surprising power of ideas that don’t make sense. I had the privilege of hearing Rory speak also about ideas from his book — from the difference between the impact of a speedometer that measures speed versus one that measures time left to travel, to the bees that break off from the ‘waggle dance’ to go out in different directions to known flower patches, this book argues, like Niels Bohr before, that the opposite of a good idea is perhaps another good idea.

565: The story of Unifying India by Mallika Ravikumar

I got this book after hearing the author speak about the brief to Sardar Vallabhai Patel and VP Menon to unite 565 states into India. The book elaborates on many lesser known stories from this epochal time in India’s history. At this time, contrary to my understanding, 40 per cent of India was not under the British but a complex set of princely states — 565 of them. Ravikumar masterfully chronicles the various stories. The ones that stood out for me — the Nawab of Junagadh, who fled taking his dogs but not his wife and child. How the state of Travancore went from wanting independence to becoming the first state to join the Union after a machete attack on the Dewan made them realise the extent of anger of the people on the decision of independence.

The author does a masterful job of making history come alive and become a thrilling story than the more dry tomes that are more the norm.

Ram Madhvani

(Filmmaker and founder of Equinox Films)

Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel’s Messiah by Charles King

This book reframes Messiah not as a sacred monument but as a work born out of debt, illness, political anxiety, and artistic desperation. What stayed with me is how King shows great art emerging not from comfort but from crisis. Handel isn’t a divine genius floating above the world — he’s a working artist, gambling everything on one last act of faith.

Once you read this, you never hear Messiah the same way again. It also told me that the word optimism was invented in the early 18th century, by a human need for hope.

Maryada: Searching for Dharma in the Ramayana by Arshia Sattar

Dharma is the bedrock of our belief system and the other is Karma. When I tell stories I am always interested in the moral choices the characters make and from there comes their arcs and the plot. Maryada reminds me that cinema, like life, is about how we hold our values under pressure. Arshia Sattar’s writings on the Ramayana decode and make the epic come alive.

The Director by Daniel Kehlmann

Kehlmann’s fictional portrait of a filmmaker navigating power, vanity, compromise, and moral collapse is both intimate and chilling. What stayed with me is how quietly the book exposes the small decisions that lead to ethical erosion.

No grand villainy — just ambition and rationalisation. This novel unsettled me in the best way. Working across ads, long-form series, and films, I am a great reader of books about the movies. They make my work better.

Louis B Mayer and Irving Thalberg by Kenneth Turan

Reading this felt like looking at an earlier version of dilemmas we still face today. It helped me understand how creative vision survives, or collapses, inside powerful systems. As someone building teams, not just films, this history feels personally instructive. It’s a reminder that cinema has always been a battlefield between art, money power and compromise.

Empire of AI by Karen Hao

The word technology comes from two Greek roots: techne, meaning “art, craft, or skill”, and logos, meaning “word, speech, or discourse”. This book forced me to slow down and look past the excitement of new tools. As I experiment with AI in storytelling, it reminds me that technology does liberate art but it always carries human consequences. The future isn’t being engineered by machines alone, but by very human choices.

Babita Baruah

(CEO, VML India)

The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

A book on finance and money that is captivating storytelling is not something we come across every day. This book explores the emotional and psychological factors that drive our financial decisions. What I love most about this book is how it emphasises that managing money is more about mindset than math, making it relatable and accessible to everyone, regardless of their financial background. There are real-life anecdotes and simple yet profound wisdom in every chapter. The author also simplifies complex concepts like compounding and the difference between getting wealthy and staying wealthy, making them easy to understand and apply.

The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. But that is not why I love this book. This book is one of the most powerful graphic novels I’ve ever read. It tells the story of the Holocaust through the experiences of the author’s father, Vladek, who survived it. What makes it so unique is how it uses animals — Jews are mice, Nazis are cats — to tell such a heavy and emotional story in a way that’s both symbolic and deeply impactful. The black-and-white illustrations are simple but raw and haunting, perfectly capturing the weight of the story.

What I loved most is how honest it is — Spiegelman doesn’t shy away from showing his father’s flaws or their complicated relationship, which makes it feel so real and human. It’s not just a story about history; it’s about family, trauma, and how the past shapes us. It’s heartbreaking, but also a story of survival and resilience. This graphic novel reminded me of the importance of remembering the past and the power of storytelling. It’s not an easy read, but it’s one I think everyone should experience.

Susegad: The Goan Art of Contentment by Clyde D’ Souza

Susegad is a Konkani word. The book states that it’s a word that has no exact translation in English. I picked this book up at one of the airport stalls because of the title and the phrase, “The Goan Art of Contentment”. The book beautifully captures the essence of the Goan way of life, centered around the idea of contentment, relaxation, and balance. The author takes readers on a journey through Goa’s culture, food, traditions and mindset, offering insights into how the Goan approach to life can inspire us to slow down and savour the little things.

What I loved most about this book is how it feels like a conversation with a friend who’s deeply in love with their home. The writing is simple, relatable, and filled with anecdotes that bring Goa to life. From the joy of a slow, hearty meal to the importance of community and living in harmony with nature, the book gently reminds us to find happiness in the present moment. For me, and my current fast paced life, this book is a rediscovery of the beauty of slowing down.

Everything the Light Touches by Janice Pariat

This book is a beautiful and deeply personal novel, especially because part of it is set in Meghalaya, part of my home region, North East India. The story weaves together four narratives across different times and places: a young woman exploring the forests of Meghalaya today, a botanist in colonial Bengal, a German naturalist in 18th-century Europe, and a poet-philosopher in 19th-century England. Each story reflects on our connection to nature and how modern life has distanced us from it.

What I loved most is how vividly the author brings Meghalaya to life. Her descriptions of the misty hills, sacred forests, and the unique culture of the North East felt so real and filled me with emotion of both home and my love of Nature. The book beautifully reminds us that we are not separate from nature but deeply connected to it. The young woman’s journey through Meghalaya, reconnecting with her roots and the wisdom of the land, was especially moving. This novel is a quiet, reflective read that celebrates the beauty of the natural world and the importance of finding harmony with it. It’s a story that stays with us. For me, it felt like a touch of home in faraway Mumbai.

Published on December 31, 2025