Having lived and worked in Mumbai a year and half I now consider it home. I feel familiar enough with it to draw up a list of what I believe it needs. Here is the list. What Mumbai Needs: Read more

I had an orgasmic experience last week.

I discovered three places in Mumbai that were, innovative and different and were what the city needs. They are all in Bandra, where I live.

In a previous blog I had written about how sick I was of going to the same old high-end places meeting the same old people: rich married investment bankers and diamond dealers; bimbo models; career expats who whine about India, and struggling actors who don’t pay for my drinks. Read more

It wasn’t my idea. It was my friend Rajeev’s. He said dating didn’t exist in India, I would never meet anyone hanging in bars and the only way people met here one was via a matrimonial website.

“Everyone is on them. That is how I met my wife,” he said. Read more

Soon after landing in Mumbai  a year and a half ago I went to one of the city’s premium bars on a Thursday . I was wearing ripped jeans. ( I mean deliberately ripped, to be fashionable.)

Luckily I got past the bouncers, but inside, surrounded by women in black sequin dresses and rich men in striped shirts, I felt rather stupid. In fact, not a single man looked at me. Read more

An email landed from HT head office requesting an interview with Naomi Campbell during her stint at Lakme Fashion Week.

“Find out what it is like being an ageing model, get under her skin and find out what the real Naomi is about,” it read. Read more

A bindi was stuck on my head and blue and gold glitter sprinkled around my eyes, my blond hair stuck to my sweat, thin bangles clanged on my wrists, and I danced to the music.

I was at the Blue Note in Hoxton, East London, the club night was Anokha, it was 1996 and I had just graduated. Read more