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What’s your Covid takeaway?
Bangaloreans are looking back-- and forward. We are asking ourselves and others about resolutions and Covid-takeaways. What changed in our lives? What remained constant? Silk List, an online mailing list, founded in Bangalore had a discussion on this topic. As did many alumni reunions that I attended in person and virtually. I compiled the answers into categories-- and directives. Which one resonates with you?
Israeli wines, gin cocktails, single malt and more
Omicron still rages. But here is a secret. This year, I drank very well. Partly because I was drinking at home, I decided to make a celebration of it. Here are some of the things I enjoyed. A 30-wine tasting at Grover Vineyards, wines from Israel, some unusual gins, and single malts from India.
Episode 30: Birding in Uganda with Judith Mirembe
One of the most satisfying things I do is the Bird Podcast. It releases once a fortnight. This episode is special because it is my first interview with a birder from Africa. The differentiator that we try to maintain is that our podcast has 50% women guests. The other differentiator is that, much like birds, our podcast has no borders. We roam the globe with our guests. We have recently started doing audio and video podcasts so you'll find us on Youtube as well as all podcast platforms.
What do Bangaloreans do for New Years?
Here they come again, the questions: what are you doing for New Year’s? Any plans? Here are some suggestions from interesting Bangaloreans about celebrations. Walks, restaurants, shopping, service, coming home, food, here is a bunch. To celebrate may seem unseemly given the turmoil and crises that many of our family and friends have gone through. But it is also a way to leave behind our guilt and pave the way forward. It is a life-giving affirmation.
Women, work and the pandemic
In the throes of the lockdown, a strange event happened in our privileged apartment community in Bangalore. What was strange was how normal we thought it to be at that time. A young man wrote to the building committee asking if his cook could be allowed inside the building. He was a single working man, he said and needed food. This was discussed. “Tenant in Apartment 845 wants his cook to come-- on alternate days at least-- to cook for him,” was the gist of the discussion on the committee Whatsapp group. What was interesting was that most people in the ten-person committee, including the women, thought this to be a normal request.
Is wealth a good measure of a man? Or Woman?
Every professional I meet at Bengaluru’s great companies, be it Titan, Infosys, Wipro, Biocon or Flipkart, have their “origin tales” of how they struggled and succeeded. Equally, all of us, now lead lives, where we do everything we can so that our kids don’t struggle. This piece is about money and what it means. Many middle-aged Indians who are successful professionals today have our “unreserved compartment” stories. You know what I mean? Or maybe you don’t. It is the moment when you travel by Indian trains. There you are, after an ungainly undignified scramble, sitting on the upper-berth of the unreserved compartment, surrounded by sweaty bodies. In a scene worthy of a Kannada movie, you swear that you will never put yourself through this again.
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.