I am an Indian journalist who has reported about politics, business, environment, and human rights in South Asia for over 20 years. 

I have written for publications including The Straits Times, TIME, Tehelka, Outlook, The Caravan, The New York Times, VICE, Harper's, The Hindu, The Economic Times, Foreign Policy, NYRB, Scroll.in, and The Newsminute. I also occasionally produces video stories.

 I have written two books: 

The Seasons of Trouble (Verso, Harper Collins), an award-winning nonfiction account of three people caught up in the aftermath of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. The book was listed by NPR and Slate as their Best Reads of 2014. I have also written Mission Cycle (Pratham), a children's book set in Kashmir. 

In 2020, I was given the Chameli Devi Jain Award for outstanding woman mediaperson, the most prestigious prize for an Indian woman journalist, for my work on citizenship issues. Some of my other awards are the Fetisov Journalism Award, Switzerland, for investigative reporting; International Committee of the Red Cross Humanitarian Reporting award, New Delhi; and the Mumbai Press Club's RedInk award for environmental reporting. 

I have an MA in Political Journalism from Columbia University, New York, USA, and a postgraduate diploma in  Journalism from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, India. 

I am based in Bengaluru, India, and can speak five South Asian languages.