Amrita Ghosh and Bhakti Shringarpure wonder if we have stopped reading actual, physical books these days. Books are certainly being published in large numbers but a majority of our reading seems to happen on phones, computers and tablets. Not only do we get our hobby fixes from podcasts, TV binging and social media scrolling, but important cultural conversations are also happening there. Arguing passionately against this theory is publisher and poet Naveen Kishore, who is celebrating 40 years of Seagull Books, a press that has brought us translated literature from everywhere in the world. Going against our perception that people only read pulp fiction, Kishore says that book publishing is thriving and local readerships are more robust than ever. He also weighs in on our difficult cultural moment and touches upon questions of censorship, cancellation of writers and the role of publishers themselves in what he calls "cannibal times."

Amrita Ghosh and Bhakti Shringarpure explore the sleep crisis impacting our entire world. Statistics about bad sleep are through the roof and sleep has become more than a self-help or social justice issue; it is actually a subject of human rights concerns. As we go through our daily life either a little fatigued or sometimes dead tired, the big questions here are how, when and why did everything start going wrong with our collective sleep? Sleep advocate, researcher and humanist thinker Ruhi Snyder brings sharp insights to the table and explains that our age of hyper-capitalism and shift work has completely destroyed circadian rhythms. Our society demands nonstop productivity, individualist lifestyles and pressure on the self as structures of communal living have also come apart. Snyder reminds us of a different time when naps were encouraged and doom scrolling on phones did not exist. The episode also brings special attention to the plight of working mothers who have to cope with the double yoke of neoliberalism as well as pervasive patriarchal structures.

Amrita Ghosh and Bhakti Shringarpure evaluate a year's worth of sports scandals impacting women athletes in India and ask if women in sports matter at all. Women the world over cope with being marginalised in a lucrative sports industry designed for men. In India, it is much worse with issues such as poor coaching and sports facilities, zero or negative media coverage, and offensive gender scrutiny are pervasive. Meanwhile patriotic films glorifying women athletes are very popular, pointing to the fact that sportswomen are hyped as symbols but not treated well in real life. Journalist, film critic and runner Sohini Chattopadhyay joins the conversation. She speaks about the challenges of pursuing running in urban India, a story that turned into the book The Day I Became a Runner: A Women's History of India through the Lens of Sport. She also weighs in on the recent debacles with the wrestling federation and offers an urgent solution for the sports industry.