Sadaf Shaikh

2 weeks ago | vogue.in | Sadaf Shaikh

Last November, while making my way through the Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka circuit (this was just before the entire population of India descended on Japan in 2025), I meticulously consulted my Kyoto to-do list. There was so much on there—cop a Tamagotchi, walk the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest path that the algorithm had relentlessly thrown my way, find the best ramen, take day trips to Nara and Hiroshima.

3 weeks ago | vogue.in | Sadaf Shaikh

Standing in front of a mirror, I count the number of bows in my reflection. Two securing my bangs on either side of my head. One at the end of the sash knotted around my waist. Four on the pair of socks I recently snagged in Tokyo. Two on my shiny new ballet flats, also from Tokyo. A grand total of nine. Behind me, my father watches, amused. “I don’t think teenage you and present you would’ve been friends,” he says, mussing my hair. “Dad!” I grumble, carefully rearranging the bows.

1 month ago | vogue.in | Sadaf Shaikh

When Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival last year, it was the first time in 30 years that an Indian film at Cannes entered the Main Competition section at the prestigious film festival. It was a seminal moment for Indian moviemaking, yes, but Indian films at Cannes have been creating waves for longer than that.

2 months ago | vogue.in | Sadaf Shaikh

For the most part, Instagram understands me in ways I didn’t think was possible. When I’m low, it throws up a video of an Uber driver politely telling his passenger, Shanice, that her mouth is “moving a lot like a rat (yapa yapa yapa yapa)” and to “shut it, please. (Thank you, Shanice).” When I get too exuberant, it produces a disappointing affirmation to remind me that “life sucks, and then you die”—(I agree, Jacob Black).

2 months ago | vogue.in | Sadaf Shaikh

Since I first tasted the corn curd at Ling’s Pavilion in Colaba some 22 years ago, I’ve recommended it to anyone who will listen. Often, I start the sentence, “The best corn curd I’ve ever had is served at…” and look at the people around me in anticipation, hoping a kindred spirit will complete the sentence with the two golden words ‘Ling’s Pavilion’. Sometimes, someone on the same wavelength fills in the blanks correctly.