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The Dalai Lama Part 3
What do you do when you are angry? I ask His Holiness. I expect a discourse. Instead, he says, “Hit yourself,” with his typical cackle of laughter. “When strong anger comes, go like this.” He hits himself in the side of his head and laughs. Mixing the playful with the profound is His Holiness’s signature. The Nalanda tradition that the Dalai Lama follows has very specific practices to equalise emotions. Veer Singh, the founder of Vana, told me that His Holiness wakes up at 3.30am and meditates for several hours. A lot of his practice involves visualisation: sending love to all directions.
Life Lessons about negotiation at the bazaar
Bargaining isn't about the money. It is about creating relationships out of transactions
Confession: my husband is a better cook than me
Confession: my husband is a better cook than I. So here I talk about cooking. Are you struggling to cook? Phone your relatives.
Profile of a dancer: Malavika Sarukkai at the top of her game
Dance is a beautiful and holistic way to access Indian culture. Here is a profile of a dancer at the top of her art. Twenty minutes before the world premiere of her latest production, The Battle Within, Malavika Sarukkai, ‘India’s greatest living dancer’ according to pre-eminent art critic B N Goswamy, stands alone in her green room, warming up.
In times of turmoil, choose fear or embrace life
In times of great turmoil like the one we are experiencing now, there are two ways to live. You can choose fear, or you can embrace life.
27 things to do at home during a lockdown
Realise that you are witnessing history in the making, however uncomfortable it may be.
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.