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Diwali gifts that do good and feel good
Diwali Special: Thoughtful gift options for the evolved consumer—help a cause, spread the wealth. A recent happy trend, though, is choosing gifts from organizations that work with and help less-privileged sections of society. Call it conscious consumption. Or being an evolved consumer. It is a way of spreading festive cheer that goes beyond individual needs or greed. To help you with this process, here is a list of such organizations. These products are handmade so if you want the consistency of a factory-produced object, look elsewhere.
What’s cooking, Gaggan Anand?
The 39-year-old chef’s Bangkok restaurant Gaggan, which claimed the top spot in the list of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants for the third time in a row, is all set to close in 2020. Shoba Narayan brings to you a taste of his new avatar
Was it right to fire the Google engineer? For The Hindu
Google shouldn’t have fired the engineer who questioned its diversity efforts — it should have co-opted him
Silence and Sound Part 1
In a world full of noise, how do you define and use silence?
Profile: a filmmaker and an entrepreneur: for Mint
This is the story of synchronicity in the lives of a snake-loving filmmaker and a bird-loving entrepreneur who joined hands to work for nature conservation Shekar Dattatri (left), an award-winning filmmaker, and Ramki Sreenivasan, an entrepreneur and wildlife photographer.
Essay that won a James Beard Award
This essay won me a James Beard MFK Fisher Award for Distinguished Writing. My first book, Monsoon Diary, based on this essay was nominated for a James Beard Award also.
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.