Home - Shoba Narayan

Aramness Gir: for Destinasian

Featured, Travel

For Indians, the jungle is the original storybook where our epics unfolded: a space both sacred and transformative. But Gir is the only place where you can see the Asiatic Lion.

Soneva Maldives: for Mint Lounge

Featured, Luxury, Travel

Just outside my cottage at the Soneva Fushi resort was a coral reef. Several times a day, I walked out into the sea and start swimming with my flippers.

Birding in Costa Rica: for Condenast Traveler US

Featured, Travel

We were in Monteverde, the second leg of my family's eight-day-trip through Costa Rica. Our itinerary was tight. We would fly into San José, the capital, rent a car, and drive the La Fortuna region where the dormant Arenal volcano loomed over the landscape like a benevolent pyramid. From there it would be onward to Monteverde,...

Luxury Bhutan: for The National, Abu Dhabi

Featured, The National, Travel

I am crawling on all fours on a bund between the emerald paddy fields in Punakha Valley, Bhutan. Ahead is the fabled Mo Chu river. All around, perched on hillsides are Buddhist nunneries and monasteries, their prayer flags bringing to mind a Matisse print. This is Bhutan: carbon-negative, Buddhist and a pioneer in sustainable tourism....

The welcome "lemon" at the Park Hyatt hotel, Sydney

Australian Restaurants: for Khaleej Times Dubai

Featured, Food, Travel

Some time ago, I took a trip to New South Wales, Australia. Here are six Sydney restaurants that I tried and loved.

The Dalai Lama: for HT Brunch

Featured, Profiles, Spirituality

Where I sit with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama for an hour and ask him about life, love, meditation, wisdom and ageing. His Holiness is a person like no other in today’s world. Statesman, Nobel Laureate, spiritual leader of the Tibetans who view him as God, or at least the manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, the...

Jasmine Perfume: for Travel & Leisure US

Featured, Travel

Can India be the source of the best jasmine extract in the world?

Travel Stories

Latest Articles

About artisanal male perfumers and perfume: for Bloomberg Pursuits

Shoba Narayan2020-09-01T15:54:07+05:30March 18th, 2014|

I thought male perfume was a bit of musk, wood, leather, and all those usual suspect-ingredients. Who would have thought about oudh, orange blossom and [...]

Evolution of music 2

Shoba Narayan2023-07-19T19:41:09+05:30March 17th, 2014|

All music originated in the sacred, no matter what religion. Listen to Gregorian or Mozarabic chants with your eyes closed and they will remind you of the feeling you get in the early morning hours at a temple in Haridwar. Listen to Baroque Jewish music from a Portuguese synagogue, available on Youtube, and it will take you back to a church in Goa. Listen to Islamic Anasheeds or Sufi music and you will not just feel the pull of a mosque but also that of a Buddhist monastery.

About Satya Nadella: Suddenly, all Indians seem to know Microsoft’s new CEO

Shoba Narayan2020-06-17T22:10:29+05:30March 13th, 2014|

Wrote this right after Nadella became CEO. It was published yesterday Suddenly, all Indians seem to know Microsoft’s new CEO Shoba Narayan March 11, 2014 [...]

The real reason Wendy Doniger’s book on Hindus was banned in India. For Quartz

Shoba Narayan2020-06-17T22:10:52+05:30March 13th, 2014|

My friend, Mitra moved from the WSJ to Quartz, a digital initiative of The Atlantic Monthly. Their daily briefs are followed by the top brass [...]

Evolution of Music

Shoba Narayan2023-07-19T19:41:35+05:30March 8th, 2014|

Chennai, the city I grew up in and still call home is in the throes of a creative ferment, at least with respect to Carnatic music. This has caused some apoplexy and bile among many keen ‘rasikas’ or lovers of music, who live in homes where even the pillars sing, as an ancient Tamil poem said about the author of the Tamil Ramayan, poet Kamban’s home. These are homes in the bylanes of T. Nagar and Mylapore where the home-ground Narasu’s coffee (my father drinks it) is piping hot and frothy.