Travel Stories
Financial Times: Manila
Finding beauty and spas in Manila.
Financial Times: Asian Fusion
Articles > Newspapers > Financial Times > Asian Fusion Asian Fusion - By Shoba Narayan (This article originally appeared in January 2003) Asian fusion in all but name Shoba Narayan finds a Singapore four [...]
House Beautiful: Passage to India
What makes Kerala special for a child growing up in India?
House Beautiful: Immutable Madras
Why I love Madras, the land of my youth.
Financial Times Weekend: Singapore
How creative chefs are transforming Singapore's food scene
For Silverkris on Tamilnadu
What makes Tamilnadu a special and tropical melody?
Singapore fling
Staid, chaste, strict, small—Singapore has heard it all. But this island-nation of 4.2 million people has one thing going for it (many things, actually, but we'll get to that later): Singapore is a sure fling. Having lived in Singapore for two years, I have returned wanting to revel in it as a tourist—to see it all and do it all within forty-eight hours.
For the New York Times on Trains
What makes train travel special for Indians?
For Condenast Traveler US on Japan
I have come to Japan to learn about allure. I’ve been married for seventeen years, and while my marriage isn’t falling apart, it is fraying at the edges. So I have come to Japan to learn about feminine allure from its acknowledged masters: the geisha. Geisha were created to pamper men—but they were also the freest women in old Japan.
Latest Articles
Wisdom Circle: How to love in your 50s
Forget love. The glue that makes a relationship stick is how you fight and forgive. Do you sulk when wounded? Do you go silent? Or do you shout and scream?
WisdomCircle: Love
Forget love. The glue that makes a relationship stick is how you fight and forgive. Do you sulk when wounded? Do you go silent? Or do you shout and scream? My father did not shout. His response to my mother’s anger, usually hurled as questions from the kitchen, was to leave the space and bang the doors and windows, all the while, muttering to himself.
Hindustan Times: Being single in Bangalore
Has lack of qualification ever stopped Indians from volunteering opinions? No, right? I say this as preamble since I, a married woman, am talking about the single life in Bangalore.
Sommelier India: Has beer overtaken wine in India?
Bangalore has about 85 brewpubs. It doesn’t have a single wine bar. Go into The Bier Library on a Friday evening and you’ll have to wait in line for a seat. Why is this so?
Hindustan Times: Science and Song
The sun is sacred to most old cultures and now this central figure has begun his long march north, beginning a period of renewal, rejuvenation and auspiciousness, all symbolised by a new harvest.
Hindustan Times: New Year resolutions
I think a New Year’s resolution is an expression of hope. It is built on the idea that this year, finally, we will tick off all those things that we have been yearning to conquer.
Wisdom Circle: taking stock of 2023
My definition of the good life is typically Indian. It involves a contradiction. To me, the good life is about a life of the senses and a life of the spirit: what we call in Sanskrit as bhoga and yoga. I would argue that each of us has a version of this.
BIC program on Namma Bangalore
An event that happened at the Bangalore International Centre about my book, Namma Bangalore. This event is over but you can see it in the Youtube video in this post.
Radio Indigo features Namma Bangalore
Radio Indigo on Namma Bangalore


















