Published Work

[Updated: 15 Aug 2025] 

Here are links to my published work on the Web. This is a live blog post, and I update it as and when the time arrives. Hopefully, there will be more. 🙃

Reading, Interrupted | Essay
The Bombay Literary Review
An essay on reading in the age of social media, the crippling attention economy, and reading challenges, as they abound. Interspersed with past experiences, self-care habits (or not), and observations of Mumbai.

Kaleidoscopic: Four Poems | Poetry
Vayavya
Four poems in the Monsoon Edition of the poetry magazine Vayavya about looking at lakes, being afraid in the world, knowing who we really are, and love. Always love.

The Alphabet of Love | Fiction
Juggernaut
A story about two people in love across three timelines and spanning the physical world and the metaphysical world. Riha and Zaishan meet in this life and travel to the next and back. Meanwhile, their worldly home is turned into a temple and then ravaged. Read this timeless story of Riha and Zaishan hanging on together by a thread, hope, and love.

A New Country Without a Post Office | Poetry

A Walk to the Light | Poetry
The Alipore Post
Two poems expressing solidarity, kinship, and the hope of the triumph of equality for the people of my country.

#NaPoWriMo: 10 poets from India who are embracing (and excelling at) National Poetry Writing Month | Poet Feature
Scroll
Featured in Scroll Magazine during the National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo) 2019

Communication: In Five Parts (Poems) | Poetry
RIC Journal
Five poems centred around the theme of communication in love. Working title and personal preference: If I Should Ever Be in Love (these are the poems I’d write for him.)

Book Review: The Sensational Life and Death of Qandeel Baloch | Book Review
The Bangalore Review
A review of the novelised account of Qandeel Baloch’s honour killing and the circumstances in Pakistan that led to the event. Peppered generously with stories of other courageous women who defy patriarchy every day in the nation.

Absence | Poetry
Madras Courier
A poem about missing someone when they’re right there with you.

Memorized | Short Story
Coldnoon
A short story told using the fragments of a woman’s life, about her relationships, the loves and not-loves of her life, and why she is scared of dogs.
Update: Coldnoon’s site was taken down.

Book Review: Intimate Class Acts by Maryam Mirza | Book Review
Wasafiri
A book review of Maryam Mirza’s book analysing the use of English as a class and intersectional (or not) device in Indian and Pakistani fiction. The review is in Wasafiri’s Summer 2018 magazine copy and is not available online.

Long Division | Short Story
The Bangalore Review
A short story about two unlikely people, their relationship with their cities, each other, and how they are caught off guard by the unlikeliest thing.

Book Review: We That Are Young | Book Review
Helter Skelter
A review of the painful debut novel by Preti Taneja and a reminder that some books come out of the publishing houses unedited and full of grammar mistakes.

I Wish They Had Taught Us About Hair Rather Than Dickens in School | Essay
The Ladies Finger
An essay in which I talk about why I haven’t read much Dickens, the one that got away, Bollywood influences, and yes, my hair.

Book Review: Elif Shafak’s new book gives Muslim women the novel they deserve (but it needs a second draft) | Book Review
Scroll
A book review of ‘Three Daughters of Eve’ in which I discuss how it is common for Muslim girls to have supportive fathers and why these characters should be written more, how this novel bears a glorious weight, and why Elif Shafak almost did it.

Essay: Why Women Must Gift Men Handkerchiefs, Dictionaries, and Glue | Essay
HuffPost India
An essay in light of the “mass molestation” incident in Bengaluru on 2017 New Year’s Eve trying to understand why men must molest women and why they behave in ways that depart from public decorum.
Update: HuffPost India wiped out all its site contents when the site was taken down.

Book Review: Perhaps no book comes as close to wrapping grief in words as this one | Book Review
Scroll
A reflection on Max Porter’s book ‘Grief is a Thing with Feathers’ and why it is a special book for those dealing with loss and longing, discussing various motifs used and the quotable quotes.

Book Review: ‘Harraga’: An Algerian Story of Path Burning, Islamic Fundamentalism, and Ghosts | Book Review
HuffPost India
A book review of Boualem Sansal’s novel ‘Harraga’ in which a Muslim woman heals the sick, takes danger in, talks to ghosts and goes above and beyond.
Update: HuffPost India wiped out all its site contents when the site was taken down.