About Me
I am an urban sociologist studying contemporary India, specifically class and gender inequalities. My research works can be broadly categorised into two themes: love, marriage, and family, and consumption practices and urban spaces. I use qualitative methods for my research.
Prior to Cambridge, I was an Associate Professor in Sociology at the O P Jindal Global University, Delhi, and a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH), Delhi, the South Asia research unit of the French National Centre for Research (CNRS). I have held Guest faculty and visiting positions at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, the Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics (DSE), Centre for South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge and University of Humboldt, Berlin.
I completed my MPhil and PhD in Sociology from the University of Cambridge. I did my MA from the Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, and BA(Hons) Sociology from Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi.
Teaching
I find teaching to be hugely rewarding. Listening to my students and understanding their diverse perspectives gives me an opportunity for personal and academic growth. Teaching students from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, has honed my ability to explain complex ideas in accessible ways.
At the University of Cambridge, I contribute to teaching (small-group supervisions, lectures and seminars) for Sociology undergraduate courses on Global Capitalism (SOC 9), Gender (SOC10), Imperialism, Colonialism, Empire (SOC 12), the Sociology MPhil course ‘Craft of Sociology’, and for the MPhil in Health, Medicine and Society (HMS). I also supervise MPhil and undergraduate dissertations. Additionally I have taught and examined for the MPhil programme at the Centre of South Asian Studies and marked dissertations for the MPhil in Development Studies.
Books
Dissent with Love: Ambiguity, Affect and Transformation in South Asia
routledge.com
Matchmaking in Middle Class India: Beyond Arranged and Love Marriage
link.springer.com
Money, Culture, Class: Elite Women as Modern Subjects
routledge.com
Exploring Indian Modernities: Ideas and Practices (ed)
link.springer.comJournal Articles
The Modern Theatrics of Love: Desires and Consumption in the Indian Middle Class
The Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute 2026
(forthcoming)
Gender, Elites and Marriage in India
Sociology Compass 2026. 20 (4)
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/soc4.70185 (open access)
Lived Reality of Elite Neighbourhoods: Geographies of Inequality in Delhi
Contemporary South Asia 2023. 31 (1). 36–50
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09584935.2023.2169905 (open access)
Gendered Impact of COVID-19
Indian Federalism Perspectives 2020. (IFP-4) paper series. Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi
Pre-marital Relationships and Violence: Experiences of Working Middle Class Women in Delhi
in (En)Countering Sexual Violence in South Asian City (edited by Sen, Kaur, and Zabiliute)
Gender, Place and Culture 2020. 27 (1). 13–33
Pre-Marital Relationships and the Family in Modern India
in Changing Family Realities in South Asia (edited by Parul Bhandari and Fritzi-Marie Titzmann)
South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal 2017. (Issue 16)
journals.openedition.org/samaj/4379 (open access)
Introduction: Family Realities in South Asia: Adaptations and Resilience (with Fritzi-Marie Titzmann)
in Changing Family Realities in South Asia? (edited by Parul Bhandari and Fritzi-Marie Titzmann)
South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal 2017. (Issue 16)
journals.openedition.org/samaj/4365 (open access)
Towards a Sociology of Elites: Marriage Alliances, Vulnerabilities, and Resistance in Bollywood
Society and Culture in South Asia 2017. Vol 3 (1). 1–9
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2393861716669470 (open access)
Book Chapters
Being a Good Rich Housewife: Religion, Family, and the Indian Business Elites
in The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Global Elites (edited by María Luisa Méndez, Mike Savage, and Annette Lareau)
Oxford University Press: New York, Oxford. 2026. pp 179–191
Mythical Love and Conjugality in Everyday Life: Gender and Politics in India
in India’s Social Landscape: Contestations, Resistance, and Transformation (edited by Pushpendra)
Routledge: London and New Delhi. 2026. Chpt 3, pp 47–62
Locating Friendship in Family: Study of Indian Elites
in Family Studies (edited by Anuja Agrawal)
Oxford University Press: New Delhi. 2024. pp 211–230
An Absent or Present Family? Tracing Bollywood Films from the Turn of the Century
in Family Norms and Images in Transition: Contemporary Negotiations of Reproductive Labour, Love and Relationships in India (edited by Nadja-Christina Schneider and Fritzi-Marie Titzmann)
Nomos: Baden-Baden. 2020. pp 75–93
The Secret Lives of Money: Locating Elite Women of India
in Mapping the Elite: Power, Privilege and Inequality in Contemporary India (edited by Surinder Jodhka and Jules Naudet)
Oxford University Press: New Delhi. 2019. pp 274–300
In Quest of Identity: Student Culture in a Religious Minority Institution
in Ethnographies of Schooling in Contemporary India (edited by Meenakshi Thapan)
Sage: New Delhi. 2014. pp 182–224
Public Engagement
What a Birkin or not getting married says about attitudes to love, anxieties
The Times of India (18 May 2025)
Birkin vs Wirkin: the backlash against the global elite and their luxury bags
The Conversation — podcast (17 April 2025)
Made in Heaven: Capturing the Changing Facets of our Marriages
The Hindustan Times (28 August 2023)
In Cold Blood: No Nation for Women?
We the People, New Delhi Television (NDTV) (19 February 2023)
How violent abuse of girlfriends and partners often hides behind the language of romance
Scroll.in (30 November 2022)
Parallel Mothers: Of war, loss, trauma and womanhood
The Hindustan Times (24 March 2022)
BBC Business Daily (22 October 2021)
Covid-19 lockdown has brought joys of old friendships into focus – and the pain of wilted ones
Scroll.in (1 August 2021)
Thinking Beyond Love and Arranged Marriages
The Hindustan Times (1 August 2021)
On Amrita Sher-Gill’s Birthday, a closer look at the women in her paintings
Scroll.in (30 January 2021)
A Suitable Boy: Where Love is Intricate and the Personal is Political
The Hindustan Times (4 November 2020)
Matchmaking in Contemporary Indian Society
Australia’s Travel Writer’s Radio Show (27 August 2020)
Indian Matchmaking: Why Has it Sparked Such Strong Debate
The Stream, Al Jazeera (26 August 2020)
Looking for love in the Indian Diaspora
Krys Boyd’s Think, NPR Dallas (11 August 2020)
Matchmaking Illustrates the ills of Indian society
The Hindustan Times (22 July 2020)
Art of Solitude: These three painters are more relevant now than ever before
Scroll.in (5 May 2020)
The coronavirus lockdown is putting urban Indian couples to test
Scroll.in (12 April 2020)
How the injuries of modern love are redefining India’s ideas of traditional marriage
Scroll.in (14 February 2020)
Parasite: A Defining Film on Class Relations, Inequality
The Hindustan Times (11 February 2020)
Between Love and Marriage, lies Matchmaking
The Tribune (9 February 2020)
Birkin bags and Swiss ski resorts: How super-rich Delhi wives want to be part of global elite
The Conversation (8 January 2019) — reprinted in Scroll.in and The Print
Why most elite married women of Delhi prefer gurus over temples or gods
The Print (22 December 2019)
Of Affection and Consumption: the New Celebrity Culture
Critical Collective (13 November 2019)
What Their Big Fat Auli Wedding Revealed about Indian Elites
Scroll.in (30 June 2019)
A Wharton Graduate Marrying a Tree…
The Print (31 March 2019)
Scroll.in (6 December 2018)
Channel News Asia (CNA) (30 October 2018)
Does Technology Change the Way We Fall in Love?
Crowdscience, BBC World Service (24 November 2017)
Inside the Big, Fat Indian Wedding: Conservatism, Competition and Networks
The Conversation (13 January 2017)
Inside India’s Elite Kitty Parties
Quartz (22 January 2017)