‘To hell with this corona’: the mask slips for India’s Covid-19 sceptics
South China Morning Post, 2020Meet India’s anti-maskers, a broad church of Covid-19 deniers, conspiracy theorists and even doctors that spans the country’s divides
Publications
Culture, Society and General Interest
Breaking Through
The Caravan, 2020A travelling exhibition celebrates Muslim women pioneers of the twentieth century
Trapped on the Wrong Side of the India-China Border
Foreign Policy, 2020From a pandemic to geopolitics, for families and businesspeople caught by border closings, things are going from bad to worse
Missing China: Indian expatriates stranded by coronavirus
South China Morning Post, 2020White-collar Indian workers, some with decades of experience in China, have become trapped in India by pandemic travel restrictions
The BCG Vaccine “Could be Detrimental” in Battling COVID-19
The Caravan, 2020An interview with Kevin Urdahl, a leading TB expert at the Center for Global Infectious Disease Research in Seattle
Almost Six Months After Floods, Kerala Residents Wait for Help
Al Jazeera, 2019Having floated to safety in a biryani vessel, a 77-year-old flood victim is among those struggling to survive
A Small Town Protest
The Indian Express, 2018A march in Kodaikanal draws a line from Kathua to Unnao
We Need to Talk About How We Talk About Rape and Murder
The Caravan, 2016On sensational news coverage of rape in India and the right of a rape victim or survivor not to be named
De La Impunidad a la Horca
El Pais, 2013The situation post the Nirbhaya rape case and the death penalties awarded (in Spanish)
Let Them Eat French
Mint Lounge, 2012Earlier the preserve of food critics and socialites, the French restaurant in Delhi is going local—passing fad or lasting fancy?
The Road Around Progress
Mint Lounge, 2012After three decades, Delhi’s Ring Railway continues a parallel circuit to developed Delhi
Life In Limbo For Chin Refugees
The New York Times (India Ink), 2011A look at the plight of Burma’s Chin population in India’s capital – published on the day of Hillary Clinton’s visit to Burma in 2011
Making It
The Caravan, 2011Meghalaya’s mineowners and the meaning of money in the new India (nominated for Ramnath Goenka awards in two categories)
No City for Young Women
Open, 2011How Delhi Is Trying To Protect Its Women. Behind the scenes with the people trying to protect Delhi’s women, in 2011
North By Northeast
Motherland, 2011The lives of Northeasterners in Delhi
The Gulf Wives of Kerala
The National, 2010A look at the women whose husbands work in the Gulf, living in traditional households in Calicut
Profiles
Elif Shafak: 'I defend a pluralistic, liberal democracy'
Open, 2019Turkish author Elif Shafak tackles difficult subjects, often to the ire of the ruling regime
Songs with a Message
The Hindu, 2013A chat with Spanish-French singer Manu Chao
Reader’s Writer
The Hindu, 2013A chat with Elif Batuman, author of The Possessed
Notes on a Novelist
The Hindu, 2013A brief profile of Zoe Heller, author of Notes on a Scandal
Taking out the Flags
Mint Lounge, 2012An interview with Canadian Indian writer MG Vassanji
Found in Nature
Mint Lounge, 2012A brief profile of – and interview with – British Booker-shortlister Adam Foulds
Amazing Grace: In Memory of Grace Wardell
Business Standard, 2010In memory of Fleet Street’s first woman editor
Travel
The Art of Slow Travel
National Geographic Traveller India, 2019Column: Younger years of sketchy sightseeing pave way for the charms of slow travel
Merida: Mexico’s Best Kept Secret
National Geographic Traveller India, 2018A lively public life, hip cafes and cantinas, and ruins from the Mayan era: The white city of Yucatan will thrill history buffs and epicureans
Flamenco Nights
Mint Lounge, 2012On the flamenco trail from India to Spain – lingering in Jerez de la Frontera and Seville
Art of Living
Hindustan Times, 2010Living large in Santo Domingo, The Dominican Republic
When in Turkey
Hindustan Times, 2009A visit to Selcuk, Turkey
Warrior Ways
Outlook Traveller, 2009Springtime in Mon, home of Nagaland’s Konyak tribe
Alchi: The New Leh
Outlook Traveller, 2007A visit to the other Ladakh
Art
Easy Comforts
Mint Lounge, 2012On new understandings of luxury in Indian design
Southern Rising
Mint Lounge, 2012On the rise of art curation in South India
On Publishing and Books
Once Upon a Crime
Mumbai Mirror, 2020The explosive tell-alls of India’s top cops are locking up a whole new readership: Indian police memoirs
Runs in the Family
Open, 2019A collaborative photo book looks at an immigrant scientist’s images through his son’s eyes
Scientist as Storyteller
Open, 2019Last conversations with Oliver Sacks
Anita Desai: Insider Outsider
Open, 2018The Mexico of Anita Desai has an Indian core that remains resonant to this day
Limited Edition
Mint Lounge, 2012On India’s indie poetry publishers
Our Revolutions
The Spectator, 2012A report from the Jaipur Literature Festival (2012) frontlines
The Way Forward
The Spectator, 2011The Indian publishing boom and its authors: The past, present and future of Indian publishing
More Work
National Geographic Traveller India
Since 2018