The Art of Travel
Alain de Botton
For the chapter on airports alone.
June 2026 · Bangalore
June 2026 · Bangalore
Things I have loved.
A page of things — books, stays, films, voices, cafés — that have shaped the way I see. Not recommendations exactly. Just the record of what was worth my attention. Updated every now and then, when I find things worth noting down. No affiliate links anywhere. If you find something here you want to read or visit, the search engine is right there — and so is the local independent bookstore.
fiction · non-fiction · the re-reads
Alain de Botton
For the chapter on airports alone.
V.S. Naipaul
For the sentence-level pleasure of it. The marriage in this book is the marriage everyone is afraid of.
Wendy Doniger
The one history I tell every educated Indian woman to read.
Santosh Desai
For the most accurate description of the Indian middle class I have ever encountered.
on the wishlist · bookmarked · one day
Coorg, Karnataka
24 hours of silence and nature sounds. Waking up to plantation mist with hot coffee in hand at 5 a.m. and a morning jog through the rows, the smell of earth everywhere.
Pondicherry
A villa I bookmarked on Booking. The kind of place you go to read four books in three days.
Karaikudi, Chettinad
Heritage hotel. The food is the reason. Stay two nights.
Karnataka
For the elephants at dusk. For the safari guides who do not over-talk.
on rewatch · on the to-watch list
Maybe because of the travel bug in me.
For Jyothika’s performance and the storyline.
For the slap that opens the marriage, and everything after it.
Late to it, but right on time.
For Harvey’s satisfying lines, and some words Gretchen speaks.
writers · thinkers · the internet’s good ones
fiction & essays
Underrated.
journalism
Sri Lanka, the Sangh Parivar, religion-and-state in modern India.
design & personal internet
The reason I think about my site as a garden.
essays & tiny books
Short, sharp, useful. His Now page started a movement.
art & making
For permission to share things in progress.
in archive
The foundational feminist reading every Indian woman should encounter at least once.
to write · to read · to wait for him to finish school
home away from home
The place that saw most of my growing up days, college assignments, french practice, etc. Their cakes are a steal!
Hyderabad
Their ambience and the food are both amazing.
Bellandur, Bangalore
Simply for their ambience and their coolers.
Bangalore
Went once on a friend’s recommendation, became a regular. Nivan and I love the food here.
Bellandur, Bangalore
For the board-game nights with the gang and good coffee at the same table.
If you have a book or a place I should know about, write to me. Reading happens because someone once insisted I read this.