Known Turf

Cars are not my happy place. Yet, for over two years, I wrote a road column for The Hindu.  My view was that of a citizen who uses the r...

If you run an online search for good roads in India, you might come upon a question someone asked on Quora: Why aren’t the roads in India...

I don't know what made me think of pedal-boats. Perhaps it was the whiplash of January rain. Perhaps it was the feeling of being cram...

I don't know what made me think of pedal-boats. Perhaps it was the whiplash of January rain. Perhaps it was the feeling of being cram...

There is a rumour afoot that the authorities – in Delhi at least – might do something about parking norms, like insisting that people par...

If I was a builder who built a sub-standard building that collapsed and killed a few people, or if I was an engineer who inspected and cert...

I'd been told the village I was headed to would be twenty-five or thirty kilometers from the kasbah where my family home was. I cou...

A few days ago, I had decided to visit my ancestral home in eastern Uttar Pradesh. As the taxi neared our destination, I was re-introduced ...

Journalists quoting chauffeurs, cab or auto-rickshaw drivers has become a bit of a cliche. After the last election, there was a f...

Last week, I was very upset with Kirron Kher for shifting blame onto a gangrape victim, suggesting that she shouldn't have gotten into...

I am not overfond of long car rides, especially not in cities. Most people aren’t. What’s called a ‘drive’ in other locations is ‘the damn ...

One of my favourite travel stories is from a reporting assignment in rural Rajasthan. For trips into rural areas, I'd usually have to ...

Worse, every car sitting out on the road is a thief of opportunity. There could have been a fruit cart sitting there instead and it would b...

There's a photograph I love to think of. A moustachioed farmer, dressed in a white shirt and a dhoti, is running down the highway wit...

The Delhi state government led by Arvind Kejriwal has come up with a plan to reduce traffic congestion and ease the air pollution - it will...

So I made this short film. 'Engine' was entered into a contest organised by humaramovie, where the main draw was a brief...

Auto-rickshaw drivers deserve to live in clean surroundings; they deserve to eat fruit; their children deserve to go to good schools. And it...

I was pretty spaced out during the ride back to the station. While hailing the auto-rickshaw, I hadn't even looked at the driver's f...

Had been in a taxi recently and ended up feeling quite literally as if I'd been taken for a ride. The taxi driver told me he'd agree...

Took an auto to come home last ight, like every other night. The auto driver started driving, then pulled over to the side and cursed beneat...