About Me

I’m a writer and editor based in New Delhi. Read more about me and my work here.


A picture is worth a thousand pixels
The new photojournalism ♦ In 1972, after a run of 36 years and more than 1,800 issues, Life magazine published its final weekly copy. The issue was a year-in-review, …
West Side Stories
West Delhi Special ♦ A Time Out Delhi cover story from March 2012 featuring a collection of stories from West Delhi neighbourhoods. Read the full story …
Object lessons
Subodh Gupta greets New Yorkers with A Glass of Water ♦ Subodh Gupta’s stainless steel glass, filled to the brim with water, created quite a …
Q&A: Alka Pande
Alka Pande has a finger in many artistic pies. ♦ This story was originally published in Time Out Delhi.
The Angst of Being a Modern Indian
The Cosmopolitans ♦Anjum HasanPenguin India, 309 pages, Rs 499. “Being a modern Indian is hard work,” a former king tells Qayanaat, the protagonist of Anjum Hasan’s The …
Vikram Seth: A Life in Verse
An interview with Vikram Seth ♦ A version of this interview was originally published in India Today. After the buzz around BBC’s adaptation of A Suitable …
Anecdote
Mekhala Bahl at Galerie Romain Rolland. ♦ This story was originally published in Time Out Delhi.
Driving passion
Three transport museums light up the road ahead ♦ This article is part of a longer story on Delhi’s museums. The words “Guggenheim”and “Gurgaon” have rarely, if ever, …
The Philosopher’s Tome
Accidental Magic, Keshava Guha’s debut novel, ponders Harry Potter fandom but is light on geeky delights. ♦ Originally published in India Today. Since Harry Potter debuted …
Links in the Food Chain
In Indranee Ghosh’s memoir, food becomes a metaphor for inclusion ♦ This story was originally published in India Today. In the introduction to her food memoir “placed in …
bpbScoop: Devan’s Now Has A Café
The old coffee store now makes drinks, because Devan is a place on earth. ♦ Stopping by recently for our go-to bag of beans (shoppers often have …
Chez Nini
 Cozy up for a friend-date ♦ Chez Nini’s decor suggests a nest, with twinkling lights, glossy tree trunk tables, branches and quite a few finely feathered …
Damn nation
 Siddartha Deb finds life less than shiny in the new India ♦ In The Beautiful and Damned, F Scott Fitzgerald’s profligate main characters embody the two adjectives …
To the Manohar born
Help yourself to a slice of Delhi food history ♦ On a walk through Khan Market’s intestinal middle lane the other day, we came upon a …
Tending Bar: Deepak Fartyal
The Turquoise Cottage veteran describes his job. ♦ This story was originally published in Time Out Delhi’s “Night City” cover story.
Dystopic Living
Author Samit Basu lays out Delhi’s best-case scenario in his sci-fi novel, and it is horrific. ♦ Originally published in India Today. Dystopia is pornographic,” says …
Flights of fantasy
An interview with Alia Syed ♦ Experimental filmmaker Alia Syed was born in Swansea, Wales, to Indian and Welsh parents. Over the last thirteen years, Syed’s …
Kaghaz Ke Ghar
Zarina Hashmi at Gallery Espace ♦ New York-based Zarina Hashmi has lived in homes all over the world and it is fitting that her retrospective is titled …
A dog’s life
Capital canines unleashed ♦ Dogs are both Delhi’s most maligned and best-loved creatures. From strays who know our city’s tough streets better than most people, to …
Green Movement
The Time Out Guide to salads in the city. ♦ This story was originally published in Time Out Delhi.
Beef in Sheep’s Clothing
A chef spills the beans about serving beef in India. ♦ Welcome back to Restaurant Confessionals , where we talk to the unheard voices of the restaurant industry …
A Conversation With: Shamsur Rahman Faruqi
A Conversation With: Literary Critic and Novelist Shamsur Rahman Faruqi ♦ India’s literary establishment is abuzz about the recently published novel “The Mirror of Beauty,” a …
The Saints Come Marching into Her Living Room
Behind the scenes at Marjorie Eliot’s Parlor Entertainment jazz sessions, an uptown institution. ♦ Over the years, Count Basie, Paul Robeson and other prominent Harlem musicians and …
Scent of a season
Farewell to winter ♦ Winter ends as it began, its first and last trace a lingering scent, like the whiff of tobacco on a smoker’s shawl. …
Spiritus mandi
To market, to market ♦ The Defence Colony sabzi and phalwalas are a sonorous lot, with strength in numbers and vocal prowess. Mornings sound like an …
The fandom
The universe of Indian comics collectors and geeks is expanding ♦ This article is part of a cover package on new directions in Indian comics “I had about …
Choose your own Delhi adventure
Time Out Delhi’s 5th anniversary issue ♦ “For over five years, Time Out Delhi has brought you the best of what’s happening in town each fortnight, …
Sorry, Not Sorry
A group of restaurants in New York caters to Indian palates ♦ If a visitor from the USA came to India looking for kudal varuval …
Art house
Delhi artists show us their homes ♦ Time Out gets an all-access pass into the homes of some of Delhi’s best, and best-loved artists, who graciously …
Up In The Air: The CP Rooftop Problem
In-fighting, bureaucracy and what it all means for spring gin-drinking.  ♦ It’s that time of the year when rum gives way to gin, and Delhi’s …
A Deadly Cocktail in Delhi
Book Review: Killing Time in Delhi ♦By Ravi Shankar Etteth A certain kind of book predictably gets described as a “heady cocktail” of sex, drugs, …
Wat’s up
The new Ethiopian Cultural Centre ♦ Set in a couple of low-lying whitewashed buildings with red tiled roofs clustered around a courtyard, the unpresuming new Ethiopian …
Shelved selves
Unpacking literary baggage ♦ The first library I fell in love with was my great-grandfather’s study in Shimla. An angular room with thick glass windows, dark …
bpb Review: Bengal Delight, Kalkaji
An Odiya cook brings authentic Bengali food to Delhi, via Mumbai. ♦ We’ve had our share of fish fry, mochar chop, and radha-ballabhi at CR …
Eco chambers
Are green buildings just ivory towers in disguise? ♦ As a changing climate and growing population stretch Delhi’s reserves of energy and water, the importance of …
The Householder
Amitabha Bagchi’s second novel focuses on corruption in Delhi ♦ Naresh Kumar, the householder of the title, is having a little trouble holding his home together. …
Eight Women: Nidhi Goyal
A visually impaired activist and stand-up comedian, Nidhi Goyal took up the mic to talk about the way people perceive her. ♦ Nidhi Goyal in Malad. …
Poet Verses Delhi
Akhil Katyal chronicles Delhi’s many moods in his new poetry collection ♦ Originally published in India Today. The last line of Agha Shahid Ali’s poem “Chandni Chowk, …
Exile and the Kingdom
“The Combat of Rama and Ravana”, 18th century, Coromandel Coast. Image: Met Museum An ongoing exhibition of miniatures inspired by the Ramayana, at the Met in …
Mirdard Lane
Khau gali ♦ New Delhi gives way to the old city as you cross the railway line northeast of Connaught Place. A little before Shahjahanabad proper, …
Unbreathable
Why taking the air is a bad idea ♦ A cover story on air pollution in Delhi, from Time Out Delhi, March 2009. Read an excerpt …
Hippies vs hipsters
The case for Paharganj ♦ For years, there’s been no stemming the southbound, outward drift of Delhi nightlife. The mega-clubs of Noida and Gurgaon first lured …
Stepping up
Artists engage with a land rights movement that touches down in Delhi this October ♦ What do a Delhi painter, an English photographer, a Swiss multimedia artist, …
The big wheezy
Winter may well be gone, but our ashen city’s pall of pollution lingers on. A close look at Delhi’s visible air ♦ This article anchors a …
Objects
Group Show at the Visual Arts Gallery. ♦ This story was originally published in Time Out Delhi.
Mind your language
Learning Urdu in Delhi ♦ Growing up mostly in the US, my Hindi instruction was limited to brief bouts of Sunday school and reading that ubiquitous …
The Grey Garden
Fabric of our lives ♦ To get to this Hauz Khas Village eatery, you first descend a cramped alley hung with fabric, reminiscent of the Katra …
The company of strangers
In the neighbourhood ♦ I have never found Buddhist kitsch a particularly comforting form of interior decoration. But about two weeks ago, I found myself sitting …
Eating Clean
Theatrically sanitised restaurant meals, untouched by human hands and wrapped in meters of plastic are our new food fetish. ♦ This story was originally published …
Eight Women: Bhavna Paliwal
A private detective and head of her own agency, Bhavna Paliwal is intimately familiar with Delhi’s darker side. ♦ Bhavna Paliwal in her office. Image: Abhinandita …
My Bar
All the essentials in Paharganj ♦ Strip a bar down to its basics, and all you really need is an accommodating room, some seating, an efficient …
Writing in Past Continuous
An interview with Sunjeev Sahota ♦ A version of this interview was originally published in India Today. By his own admission, British writer Sunjeev Sahota’s novels …
Graveyard Shift
Exploring Delhi’s burial grounds. ♦ Delhi War Cemetery Part of a few stories for a Time Out Delhi’s “Ten spiritual trails” cover. Click to read with pictures. Headstones …
Killing Snobbery Softly
Anuja Chauhan takes a stab at the murder mystery genre and skewers elitism in the process ♦ This story was originally published in India Today. It’s …
Superiority complexes
The silly building name epidemic ♦ A man’s home may be his castle. But is it absolutely necessary to call it King’s Court? Absurd, westernised residential …
Burnt offerings
Seasonal rituals ♦ In the narrow confines of Eve’s tailoring shop in Greater Kailash, bunched up between the brocade-covered, sequin-strewn counters and the walls plastered with …
Song of the open road
Street music ♦ Concerts go down in history for attracting record crowds, for the debut of a groundbreaking work, or the return of a long-absent musician …
Capital Rambles
Delhi: Unknown Tales of a City By RV Smith (Roli, ₹295) Among the contemporary crop of Delhi’s flâneurs and society chroniclers, Ronald Vivian Smith is a tall figure. …
The Walls of Delhi
Uday Prakash’s stories bring downtrodden characters to life ♦ “I bet you’re thinking that I’m taking advantage of the one hundred and twenty fifth anniversary of …
Walk the chawk with Sam Miller
Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity ♦ Journalist Sam Miller’s new book Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity describes the British expat’s walks around town, which followed the …
Cheese Chaplin
Quick bite ♦ Did someone say cheese? Cheese Chaplin, tucked into the air-conditioned, office-like basement of a tiny building draped with bougainvillea in Lado Sarai, is primarily …
A City in a Fog
In Deepa Anappara’s Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line, dangers lurk in the long shadows of Nithari and Nirbhaya ♦ Originally published in India Today. Smog meanders …
Floods and Streams of Anarchy
William Dalrymple discusses his new book on the rise of the East India Company ♦ Originally published in Mumbai Mirror.  “At the dawn of the nineteenth century …
I ❤️ Civil Lines
The civilised life in Delhi. ♦ When I came to Delhi for an exchange semester at St Stephens College, I was housed with several …
Shahjahanabad coolers
Street the heat ♦ Feeling a bit parched in puraani Dilli? Quench your thirst at these local institutions. Read the Time Out Delhi (July 2009) story as a …
Step Across the Line
The repetitiveness in Jogen Chowdhury’s works is deceptive. ♦ This story was originally published in Time Out Delhi.
Review: The Biscuit
Lizzie Collingham traces the journey of the biscuit from sustenance to sweet treats ♦ This story was originally published in India Today. This summer, when migrant …
Cutting edge
Performance art: History, highlights and what to see at the India Art Fair 2012 ♦ Time Out Delhi’s timeline of performance art from India and elsewhere, …
The Writer’s Endurance Test
Book Review ♦ The Assassination of Indira Gandhi: The Collected Stories of Upamanyu Chatterjee, Volume I Originally published in India Today. From the ‘hazaar fucked’ slang …
River crossing
Five Yamuna walks ♦ Cities usually consider a river to be a blessing, but us Dilliwalas tend to turn our backs to ours. We hold our …
The treehouse for two
Paramjit and Arpita Singh line their sunny nest with warm reds and leafy greens ♦ This article is part of a series on artists’ homes. When artists Arpita …
Review: Rajdhani
Serving up a capital thali. ♦ Mumbai’s legendary Gujarati thali establishment opened recently in the NCR with two outlets, one in CP and one …
bpb Review: Chateau, Adhchini
“Castle,” but in the cricketing sense. ♦ At first sight, Chateau seems to descend from that lineage of brunch specialists best exemplified by Olive Bar & …
Stirring the pot
Delhi’s culinary melange ♦ Part of a Time Out Delhi food cover story, this is a short history of Delhi food, plus a guide to eating in the …
French Affair
Roadside rendezvous ♦ From its Toile de Jouy wallpaper with dancing French country couples to its aqua wrought-iron chairs and mixed-up crockery, this bakery is a …
Building blokes
The Modern Architecture of New Delhi ♦ Rahul Khanna, owner of Below8 bar, and Manav Parhawk, a fashion photographer, teamed up to explore Delhi’s modern architecture. …
Sakura
Authentic, not atmospheric ♦ It’s been 11 years since Sakura first opened in Delhi. Since then, the city’s self-proclaimed “first Japanese restaurant” has opened a branch …
Watching it burn
Image: Wikimedia Commons Marking an anniversary and the National Museum of Natural History ♦ I believe it was for Time Out Delhi’s first “Beat the …
Here and There
Design-makers at the British Council. ♦ This story was originally published in Time Out Delhi.
Second Helpings: The Big Chill
Khan Market’s sweet spot for comfort food. ♦ With two branches in Khan Market, The Big Chill is Delhi’s favourite comfort food hang-out for …
bpb Review: Bo-Tai, Mehrauli
Bandage dresses, duck sausage, and Naga fireballs. Oh Mehrauli. ♦ To be seated at the bar at Bo-Tai, restaurateur Zorawar Kalra’s newest establishment, is to …
Provisioning During a Pandemic
Gourmet ingredient delivery around India ♦ Originally published in India Today. Burrata from Flanders Dairy, greens and fruit from Krishi Cress. Not too long ago, “gourmet” was …
Espresso Grill
Rich flavours on pretty plates ♦ Delhi’s largest multilevel parking lot on Baba Kharak Singh Marg, which opened to much fanfare last year, is a desolate, glittering …
A Weekend in Old Delhi
A budget weekend in purani Dilli ♦ The most difficult decision I had to make while packing for a weekend in Old Delhi, was what sort of …
East is Beast
Book Review ♦ New Kings of the World: The Rise and Rise of Eastern Pop Culture, By Fatima Bhutto Originally published in Open. As 2014’s feeble monsoon …
Protest Code
Suñatā Samantā: Emptiness Equality invites you to look beyond the obvious in art to see discontent and dissent ♦ Originally published in India Today. Shades of …