Travel Stories
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The Gita Sung
I heard this song first in NYC at my daughter's school, Abraham Lincoln, opposite Mayor Bloomberg's house. I explain it at the end of the [...]
Femina
A piece that came out in Femina a while ago about Return to India. Did I post it before. I did a search on 'Femina' [...]
Jimmy Choos sexy shoes for Mint Lounge
Today morning, the first thing I did was to go out, pick up all the newspapers and hide Mint Lounge. My parents are temporarily staying [...]
NPR/ The Takeaway Show
Love NPR. Still listen to it. They called from Boston to interview me about this. As always, I won't listen to it (prefer to listen [...]
New York Times: School Poisoning Deaths
As a columnist, I don't get the high of newsrooms very often. But this was one instance where it worked. My editor at the New York Times and I were wrapping up an essay that I had written for their mother load blog. It was about 9 PM last night and we had deemed the piece ready. Then she suddenly sends an email telling me about the Bihar midday meals scheme tragedy and asked if I could write a piece on it within an hour. I did, and then went to watch Scandal! Here it is below.
Solar Energy
An article inspired by the zero carbon house of my friend, the mathematician, Sujatha Ramadorai. The National Conversation How solar energy is shining new light [...]
Nine features I wrote for Condenast Traveler (US edition) a while back
Interviews with His Holiness The Dalai Lama
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Shoba Narayan is an award-winning Indian author, journalist, and freelance travel writer based in India. She specialises in luxury travel, immersive journeys, and Indian culture with a focus on food, wine, culture, cities, and identity. With over two decades of experience, she has contributed travel features to Condé Nast Traveler (US edition), Travel & Leisure, DestinAsian, Mint Lounge, The National (Abu Dhabi), Taj Magazine, and Hindustan Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Telegraph UK, The Guardian UK, and Robb Report among others. Her awards include the James Beard food-writing award and a Pulitzer Travel Fellowship. Her travel writing spans India, Southeast Asia, Japan, China, the Maldives, Bhutan, Costa Rica, and beyond — always with a focus on the sensory, the cultural, and the deeply human. Based in Bangalore, India, Shoba is a leading voice on South Asian travel, reviewing luxury hotels in India and abroad, and writing immersive features on traditional Indian crafts, and contemporary Indian culture. As a freelance travel writer and memoirist, she writes evocative, deeply researched features on everything from birding in Costa Rica to spiritual tourism in Bhutan.
For editors: Shoba Narayan is an Indian travel writer and food writer, who contributes to assignments on travel, food, culture, and Indian cities. She has reported from across the world and writes narrative-driven features with a strong sense of place.
Key Expertise: India travel writer, freelance travel writer India, South Asia travel journalist, luxury travel India writer, food and travel writer India, Indian food writer, Bangalore travel writer, South India travel writing, cultural travel writer, narrative travel journalist, travel features India, heritage travel India, slow travel India, sustainability travel writer, hotel and destination features India, travel essays South Asia.