Latest Articles
Can—and should– spas go beyond ayurveda in Bangalore?
Ultimately, it comes down to the smell of the towels, I said when a Bengaluru visitor asked why I had not given a spa guide to the city in this column. After all, I had written about everything else. This is odd because you see, I am that cliché. I am a spa junkie. There are two types of people: those who love spas like me, and those who don’t, like my husband. The third category is those folks who will have a “maalish-wali” or masseuse come home. This article is not for them. They see the massage as a utility, something that fosters health, which it does. But for me, the spa is an experience that cocoons you. It is a splurge.
For SF Gate: temple food
This is my first piece for SF Gate which has some 136 million page views and some 30 million unique visitors each month. It is about the Livermore temple and its food.
Hindustan Times: On ageing
There is no single blueprint for ageing well. There are whacko schemes like tech entrepreneur Brian Johnson touting his “longevity mix” (also called Blueprint) as being second only to mother’s milk.
Is kaali-dal the McDonalds of North Indian food?
To me, the next bastion of North Indian food is to look to the light flavours of U.P vegetarian food
For India Currents: on dance
About a dance theater production based on my book, Food & Faith
For Smithsonian Journeys magazine on Jaipur
This is an old story. But for some reason, it wasn't uploaded here. So here it is. This post is about the art of applying henna and how I learned how to do it in Jaipur.
Career Transitions and How to Cope
Career transitions happen by choice or compulsion: some that we seek and some that are forced upon us. The trick when you find yourself stumbling is to be prepared to pivot, to change. Most people know how to change in theory. But doing it is terrifyingly difficult.
Fine Italian wines
I am at the festival pavilion at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. It is a wet Thursday morning and wine lovers from all across the city are trooping for Tre Bicchieri, arguably the most important Italian wine event in the US.
How Cartier scented a symphony
The House of Cartier has created three scents that will perfume the hall at three key points during the performance—but we are not certain how it will be achieved. The only clues are white vortex-shaped structures along the sides of the auditorium.
Can a reactionary create a revolution?
T.M. Krishna fancies himself as a revolutionary, but he is an inconsistent reactionary whose argument is “anti-whatever the norm is” rather than cogently thinking through the evolution of music.
The trouble with Indian cocktails
The problem with creating cocktails in India is that we have too many ingredients available to us. For an imaginative mixologist, this throws up a dizzying array of choices and not all of them good.