Travel Stories
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How do you know what you don’t know?
How do you find things you aren’t searching for? This isn’t a trick question. It is about structure, serendipity and spontaneity.
Fine Dining Lovers magazine: Mangoes
In India, mangoes are eaten, raw, cooked, ripe, pulped and slurped. Today, chefs all over the world do the same, using the acidity of raw mango or the sweetness of ripe mango to balance unique and unusual flavors.
Bangalore’s secret neighbourhoods: V.V. Puram
I am in Thindi Bheedhi (literally tiffin street), V.V. Puram’s “khao galli,” which is to Bangalore what Chandni Chowk’s food streets are to Delhi. I am here because I am suffering from Post-Diwali food-withdrawal symptoms.
How do you make friends in a new city?
Say you move to a new city. You need friends. They won't materialize. They have to be created, connected with and nurtured. How to do this?
Textile treasures of Bangalore
I stand between Chennai and Bengaluru with respect to my allegiances. Which city is better for textiles? Chennai, in my view. How to change this? One way would be for many of Bangalore's saree lovers to join institutions like the Crafts Council of Karnataka.
Middle class millionaires: only in Bangalore
A funny thing happened as Bangalore was getting flooded with rain water. What would you do if you are a billionaire who lives in Koramangala, Epsilon, 77 East and other elite real estate developments? Read on.
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.