Shunali Khullar Shroff - Author Storyteller Travel Writer Columnist

Published Articles

Elizabeth Gilbert and the Art of living

Elizabeth Gilbert and the Art of Living (HT Brunch)

I have a date with Elizabeth Gilbert. Perhaps the stars aligned. Perhaps it is because we share a publisher. The fact is that we are chatting under a garden umbrella in the sprawling lawns of her hotel in Jaipur and enjoying the warmth of the winter sun over idlis and cups of steaming masala chai. A few days ago, I’d met her briefly at the Jaipur Literature Festival. So struck was I by Gilbert’s openness and exceptional warmth that I felt I had to meet her again. So here we are today, chatting about life, love, writing and womanhood She is draped in an exquisite grey pashmina with blue peacocks embroidered all over it. We are women, after all, we must get the conversation about shopping out of the way first. “Isn’t it just stunning?

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Making French Connection Shunali Khullar Shroff & Kauveri Khullar

Making French Connections (Condé Nast Traveller)

Two sisters from different parts of the world reunite on a trip to the South of France and revel in the aesthetic pleasures of its countryside….My week on the Cote D’Azur in the autumn of 2019 was my last holiday before the pandemic. The world at the time was innocent to the blow it was about to be dealt in the form of the COVID-19 virus merely two months later. I wrote this piece soon after my return from France. I was on a high, the smell of lavender still lingered in the clothes that had just been pulled out of my suitcase. Little did I realise that it would be a long time before my story would appear and that when it did, it would end up reading like a fable from a long,

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Mughal Love

Mughal Love (Condé Nast Traveller)

The Taj Mahal may symbolise eternal love, but a walk through the others forts and palaces of Agra reveals stories more layered I’m walking within the ramparts of the expansive Agra Fort—the main residence of the emperors of the Mughal Dynasty, along with my tour guide Nitin Singh, and listening to him talk about Emperor Akbar and Jodha Bai. Nitin is a history graduate and a licensed guide who has escorted some of the country’s most distinguished guests including Macaron, Trump and Bolsonaro over the past twenty years. I’ve spent the previous two days trying to saturate my senses with the beauty of the Taj Mahal, which looks only more splendid with each viewing. That Shah Jahan loved Mumtaz Mahal and after her death, spent his remaining years sustained only by the sight of the makbara

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Brands Associations

Events

The Leela Palace

Polo in the Pink City and Where France Meets Avadh

October 2022 | The Leela Palace, Jaipur

A bit About Her

Bio

Shunali Khullar Shroff is an author, novelist and writer known for her insightful take on modern Indian life, popular culture, feminism, parenting, travel and art. Her bestselling books ‘Love in the Time of Affluenza’ and ‘Battle Hymn of a Bewildered Mother,’ are satirical takes on society and parenting. An ex-journalist, she has also contributed extensively to leading publications like Conde Nast Traveller, Vogue, Elle, Hindustan Times, and Mint Lounge. Shroff also is a screenwriter for prestigious Indian and international projects, currently under development and has curated women’s summits and festivals.

She also co-hosts the popular podcast ‘Not Your Aunty’ with fellow writer Kiran Manral, offering candid dialogues on a range of contemporary issues.

Books by Shunali

Love in the Time of Affluenza

“He never wants to touch me any longer, Natasha. It’s like he’s impotent or something.”
“That’s not impotence, that’s just what being married is like!”

Raising three beautiful children in her beautiful Bombay home with her aristocratic husband of 15 years – every bit the prince you read about in fairy tales – Natasha has it all. But when her closest friend drops the bombshell that she’s isn’t entirely fulfilled by her family and is having an affair, Natasha begins to ask some difficult questions about her own seemingly perfect life.

Battle Hymn of a Bewildered Mother

As much with life, parenting in the new millennium does not come with an instruction manual. If you happen to be a girl about town, a super successful career woman, a must – live – eachday – as – it – comes kind of person, impending motherhood can be as imposing as a trip to outer space without an oxygen mask.

Welcome to the opposite of everything you know. Shunali Khullar Shroff in Battle Hymn of a Bewildered Mother begins her journey as someone chronically devoid of what is naturally termed as the maternal instinct. 

A Peek into Her Social World