Welcome! I am a historian of cities, mountains and modern South Asia. My current research focusses on urban capitalism in the global South, the postwar concept of urban crisis, and the history of international development. I am an Assistant Professor of History, Department of History, Ashoka University, India.

I am currently working on two book projects. My first book titled Agents of Inertia (currently under review ) is a history of the spatial politics of business elites in twentieth-century Calcutta and— to a lesser extent— Bombay. It shows how for a period lasting about seventy years from the late nineteenth century to the late 1960s, Calcutta’s businesses emerged as one of the main obstacles to urban change and development with devastating consequences. Through this study, my book recasts how we understand one of the most significant episodes in the economic, business and urban history of postcolonial India— Calcutta’s urban-economic decline. At the same time, it also challenges two hegemonic ideas that shape how scholars and policymakers understand the relationship between business, urban development and capitalism, world over. One is that, under capitalism, the private pursuit of profit by business enterprise is the society’s interest. And the other, is that businesses in capitalist cities invariably engage in pro-growth politics, and that their interests lie in pushing for the creative destruction of the urban built environment.

My second book, titled Foundations of Development will be a history of Ford Foundation’s involvement in postcolonial India’s development and politics.

At Ashoka, I teach courses such as “World Cities in Theory and History”; “Business History of India” and a foundation course on Indian Civilizations. My teaching and research interests however, extend far beyond cities, South Asia, and international development. I am part of the NYU Abu Dhabi Himalayan Water Project— a multi-disciplinary team that considers the centrality of the Himalaya in shaping Asia’s, and indeed, the world’s past, present and future. At Ashoka, I particularly enjoy teaching a course I designed on the history of Mountains and Mountaineering that explores the central but often ignored place of mountains in the making of the modern world. I am developing this interest into a full-length book project. This book will be a global history of mountains and mountaineering from the vantage point of South Asia.