I was in Jaipur with my mom, minding my own business, posing under the iconic blue archways, when out of nowhere a kid came and spit on me. Read all about one of my craziest travel memories in the Wall Street Journal.
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Recent Work
I returned to Hyderabad after four years away — quite a long stint for me. I reported on how much the city’s changed for Travel + Leisure.
I wrote about my first foray into a life of crime — a misguided sticker theft in the third grade — for the Christian Science Monitor.
Check out my essay in the current installment of Fresh Yarn. Happy holidays, everyone! Santa Claus Is Coming to Town…NOT When I was a kid I, like millions of other…
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Eid! Here’s my latest essay from the Wall Street Journal. The Indian Thanksgiving A naturalization test at an immigration office in Boston…
I’ve always had a major obsession with Indian fashion, and I wrote about it for the Wall Street Journal’s New Global Indian column.
This piece is all in good fun. For a slightly more serious look at how Muslims around the world observe Ramadan, check out my piece at Travel + Leisure. Inside…
Update: This essay was recently published in the New York Press – check it out! I knew he was sketchy as soon I saw him clambering up the steps of…
UPDATE: this essay now appears in the travel anthology The Places We’ve Been: Field Reports from Travelers Under 35. My grandparents in India live on a tidy little estate called…
Awards & Books
Awards
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2021: Honorable mention for the Grand Award, Travel Journalist of the Year
- South Asian Journalists Association, 2021: Outstanding Arts and Culture Reporting for “Zanzibar in the Rain,” New York Times
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2020: Bronze in Short Work on Travel for “Raise the Roof,” Condé Nast Traveler
- South Asian Journalists Association, 2019: Outstanding Arts, Culture, and Lifestyle Reporting about South Asia for “Force of Nature,” Surface magazine
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2018: Gold award in US/Canada Travel for “A Muslim American’s Homecoming: Cowboys, Country Music, Chapatis,” New York Times
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2018: Bronze in Service-Oriented Consumer Work for “My Town,” Virtuoso Life
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2017: Gold in Culinary-Related Travel for “Eating Bunny Chow in Durban,” Saveur
- South Asian Journalists Association, 2017: Outstanding Arts and Culture Reporting for “Eating Bunny Chow in Durban,” Saveur
- North American Travel Journalists Association Awards, 2016: Two Silver awards in Destination Travel and Adventure Travel for “7 Days, 1500 Miles in Namibia,” New York Times
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2016: Gold in Foreign Travel for “7 Days, 1500 Miles in Namibia,” New York Times
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2015: Gold in Personal Comment for “Returning to Hyderabad, Once a Land of Princes and Palaces,” New York Times
- Solas Awards for Best Travel Writing, 2013: Silver in Most Unforgettable Character for “Spitting Distance in Jodhpur,” Wall Street Journal
Books
- New York Times Cultured Traveler: Contributed a feature on Bosnia & Herzegovina to this upcoming anthology
- Best American Travel Writing 2021: “City of Saints” from Travel + Leisure was selected for the 2021 edition of this anthology, edited by Padma Lakshmi and Jason Wilson
- New York Times 36 Hours World: 150 Cities from Abu Dhabi to Zurich: Contributed 36 Hours guides to Johannesburg and Mumbai for this anthology
- My Life Abroad: A Selection of Expat Stories: Contributed to this compilation of expat stories from around the globe, recounting my experience as an American in South Africa, in the chapter “From New York City to Cape Town.”
- The Places We’ve Been: Field Reports from Travelers Under 35: Contributed my essay “When Coconuts Attack” to this travel anthology.