About
I am a writer and editor based in Mysore, India. I have extensive experience in content strategy and effective communication.
I support community-driven women-run businesses, work with meaningful technology, and write for institutions involved in social justice. I have an abiding interest in wellness and mental health. I have a strong interest in editorial work, which runs through all my work.
Over the years, I have worked in the arts (arts management, literature, performance), social science research (the sociology of law and urban sociology), and communications (content and social media strategy and editorial consulting).
In my free time, I am an urban sketcher and tango dancer and DJ.
I also write a newsletter on Substack on my cultural interests and insights.
Projects
As a freelance consultant, my work involves synthesising research, writing and crafting effective communication and offering production support in various capacities to individuals and organisations.
I curate and host events around literary culture, speak at events on wellbeing and mental health and write longform pieces on queerness, culture and books.
I am in the process of producing a podcast on Indian culture.
Working with a client to synthesise research and writing for a book (under NDA).
Side Projects
A not-for-profit working towards the arts as an accessible and effective health resource for individuals and communities.
I am a curator and editor of our small independent bookstore in Bangalore. I play an advisory role in the organisational development of the bookstore, with a special focus on editorial aspects of communication strategy.
I curate book subscriptions, book-related events and host conversations with authors.
Work Experience
I consulted to set up and register a Section 8 not-for-profit that works to support and bolster arts and health as a field in the Indian context. My involvement included organisational development, communications for branding, website and fundraising.
I have worked as a consultant to offer social media communication and marketing strategies for small indie products, ranging from a participatory coffee brand, a bookstore, an art studio and not for profit.
I've been an editor for academic magazines such as Tulika Books, Bioscope - South Asian Screen Studies, Review of Agrarian Studies. I have copy-edited books for Penguin Random House India, Harper Collins and a poetry magazine Almost Island. I work with several individuals from across academic disciplines to edit, develop and copyedit content.
I worked as copywriter for a new website for Azim Premji Foundation.
I worked with a boutique web design and development studio for content offerings for select clients.
I worked in close collaboration with Azim Premji University to create and write their new website (managed internally by the University since September 2021). I worked with Miranj, a strategic website design and development studio and our technology partner.
As the project manager and interface between technology and communications, I worked closely with both the University and Miranj to help author content and establish narrative and storytelling strategies.
Using a content style guide I created for Azim Premji University, I trained their internal communications teams and helped establish their publishing workflows. Finally, I wrote, edited and produced the entirety of the website content at the time of launch in June 2021 (which has since evolved).
During the second wave of the pandemic in India in mid-2021, I worked with practitioners in NIMHANS to write and create resources on coping with grief and loss. These resources were free to download and disseminate, and we encouraged translation. I worked with illustrator Labonie Roy and designer Kalabati Majumdar, and our work was led by Dr Prabha Chandra, psyhchiatrist at NIMHANS, Bangalore.
As a practitioner of Vipassana meditation, I consulted with a mindfulness-based app ‘Awakened Mind’ to research, write and edit guided mediations. In early 2020, I worked on research and writing for a series of meditations on chronic pain and chronic illness, that were reviewed by Dr Craig Hassed from Monash University.
I worked as Managing Editor for this print and electronic publishing house committed to expanding equitable, open and affordable access to knowledge and books.
Conceptualisation of research framework for ‘Rule of Law project’ to evaluate judicial performance and the problem of pendency in the Indian courts.
A diverse role including editorial work, curatorial management, and production for events and residencies with artists, writers and cultural professionals; editorial assistance of ‘Bioscope: Journal of Screen Studies’, curation and coordination of artist fellowships and residencies such as ‘City as Studio, Sarai Reader 09: The Exhibition, and Delhi Urban Platform.’
Speaking
A panel discussion with psychiatrist Dr Sanjeev Jain and sociologist Dr Nirmala Srinivasan asking, what can Bangalore tell us about creating an urbanism that is conducive to the mental wellbeing of its dwellers? What lessons can we learn from Bangalore’s particular experiences in mental healthcare for making our cities more attuned to the needs of those in psychosocial distress?
In conversation with author Rahul Rao about their book, 'Out of Time: The Queer Politics of Postcoloniality'.
In conversation with Roxane Gay about the writing process, personal narratives, our bodies and desirability, and a life on the internet.
A conversation about writing as an act of hope during times of conflict.
Exhibitions
As part of the Namma 560 grant under the India Foundation for the Arts, my colleague Anmol Tikoo and I worked on a sound-bases project to document and speculate about Bangalore as a centre for mental health and well-being. My work includes understanding through research how Kannada literature and cinema depict and consider mental health and Bangalore.
Performance and installation unfolding against Felice Beato’s photograph taken in the wake of the 1857 revolt.
Performance and installation unfolding against Felice Beato’s photograph taken in the wake of the 1857 revolt.
Curatorial team of ‘Sarai Reader 09: The Exhibition’ with Raqs Media Collective.
Writing
Piqued is a monthly column in which we spotlight relatively unheard books that we read and think about at Champaca Bookstore.
The mentally ill during a global pandemic in India, and public health capacity.
In the week after Section 377 is decriminalised, I think about queerness.
About my mother and an illness.
About the mango, the love for fruits, and a parent.
Thinking through the unresolved dilemma in the Indian planning scenario where good mobility is seen as a suficient condition for accessibility.