This year has been a year of incredible personal growth, through learning via the PhD and travel in Malaysia and Singapore. I traveled to Penang, Malacca, Ipoh and Seremban this year, video blogged for the first time and image made majorly for my blog. I also traveled to Singapore thrice including an unforgettable experience of a Coldplay Concert with the talented Hanna Sundahl !

I presented my PhD work at a YSI workshop at Universiti Malaya in September, and did research on EVs in Malaysia. I was blessed to guest lecture a masters class on migration governance in December. As a part of research , I went to a flurry of climate conferences in KL for ‘event ethnography’. I spoke at the 6th ASEAN Integration Forum on a Responsible Capitalism Panel organised by IKMAS UKM.

I spent the entire year in Kuala Lumpur, and learnt a massive amount about the rich mosaic that is Malaysia. It is more than the KLCC, Bukit Bintang and TRX. I went into the plantations in Bestari Jaya, which were a lesson in climate racial capitalism. As a researcher in SE Asian Studies, I am aghast at lack of focus on the region in India. I was blessed to meet incredible scholars from the world over in Malaysia and Singapore this year.

I did some M&A transaction advisory work with good people and a landmark study on platform work as part of my independent consulting practice. But this year was a time steeped in the life of the mind. This is a privilege that I do not take lightly.

I end my year with a major anthem press book chapter publication on the Gulf coming out next year. I also had abstract acceptance to three academic conferences in Singapore, DC and Bologna in 2025.

I was interviewed by New York Times for the tragic Kuwait housing fire in July, and was generously quoted in the story. I also participated in a couple of webinars by Red Lantern Analytica this year on the diaspora, a topic close to my heart as a migration scholar on the Gulf and SE Asia.

For folks who cancelled me from projects that I deserve to be onboard, I have news- I am just starting up again after a tough decade. Watch this space !

The coming year, I pray for peace and good health. There is no substitute for healing and health.

My book chapter in an anthem press book coming out in 2025, on the art of bordering edited by Prof Giri and @moscowcitydweller Arnab Da.

Very glad to have contributed to Gulf Studies and there is a lot of Oman in the book chapter, as I consider Muscat my bayt.

It has taken three years to get here, and as an alt academic this is particularly gratifying.

I grew up in Muscat next to Masjid’s next door and the sound of the Azaan was the sound of life. Today at the National Mosque of Malaysia I was fortunate to observe the Maghrib Azaan, in its full glory and it felt like I was back home in the Khaleej.

The Islamic Arts Museum surprised the Indian within me by looking at a massive Mughal Art collection and a separate collection dedicated on Tipu Sultan. Such homage is unique in the age of Hindutva where the Mughal past is being replaced by a Hindu right’s version of history.

The Indian Ocean Exhibition was surreal as the links between the Nusantara and the Khaleej was spelled out in detail through Jawi, Faith and Spices. The exhibition had overlaps with the ethnographic museum in Melaka, run by the state government whereas this exhibition was held at a privately owned museum.

This is a classy exhibition of which is a must for history students and scholars alike.