KAMALA THIAGARAJAN
WRITER & FREELANCE JOURNALIST
Hi and welcome to my website!
Based in Madurai, South India, I'm a freelance journalist with twenty years of reporting experience. My articles delve into a wide range of issues, exploring science, climate change, environmental policy, health, human rights and culture.
My work has taken me on many an incredible journey through wild desolate caves that Jain monks once made their homes in, to ancient excavation sites in the heart of rural India and to the blinding heat of salt mines that are on the throes of climate change.
I have been published in The New York Times, NPR, The Guardian, British Medical Journal, HAKAI magazine, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg News, South China Morning Post, Atlas Obscura, Reader’s Digest, BBC.com, The Diplomat (Australia), Morning Calm (South Korea), Christian Science Monitor and many others.
In 2023, I was awarded the Pulitzer Center's grant on crisis reporting. My project involved chronicling the lives of India's seaweed diving women, their triumphs, heartaches, and challenges for NPR. You can read about it here.
Look up my work which finds a place in Lonely Planet's anthology "You Only Live Once" (2023) featuring diverse travel experiences and adventures from around the world.
My Covid coverage from India:
In April 2020, I wrote about how an Indian state told Covid positive people that a selfie an hour would keep the police away, and what legal activists had to say about these extreme surveillance measures.
I contributed to global reports for NPR: on how problem solvers tackled pandemic challenges in their neighborhoods and an obituary for Dr Simeon Hercules, a neurosurgeon and one of India’s first frontline warriors against Covid-19, whose peaceful burial was thwarted by deep stigma of the disease.
For the British Medical Journal, I reported on how Covid-19 was exposing the high cost of India’s reliance on private health care, how India is at the center of global vaccine manufacturing, but a lack of transparency has threatened public trust in its own vaccine, and of everything we currently know about Covaxin, India’s own home-grown Covid-19 vaccine.
When India’s rising infections set new pandemic records in April 2021, I reported on the factors that fueled the surge of the more deadly, second wave and of how mothers and babies were being indiscriminately affected during rigid lockdowns. For the New Arab, I wrote on India's Covid tragedy and how it could have been avoided.
In 2021, I reported on how hasty international travel bans were disrupting lives in India, a spate of black fungus infections that keep adding to the country's Covid woes, how people are marking their vaccine milestones in interesting ways (dancing on a frozen lake anyone?) and why that matters, on vaccine inequity that divides the world and hurts us all, and the growing tragedy and risks faced by India's Covid orphaned children.
Since Jan 2021, the Indian government has faced a rather daunting task--the need to vaccinate 1.3 billion people, roughly one-sixth of the world's population. For Medical News Today, I reported on Cowin, the tech portal behind India's vaccination efforts.
In September, 2021, for NPR I wrote about why the Nipah virus could emerge a global concern.
No matter how grim the situation, I believe in the power of bitter coffee and bright sunshine. And for me, the most gripping stories are always the ones that are true to life.
Thank you for reading!
 WHY CLEAN AIR IS A LUXURYPUBLISHED: BBC FUTURE, 18 OCT 2023 Although almost everyone in the world now breathes air that is polluted in some way, the unfolding story of air pollution is one of environmental inequality. |  INDIA'S DEADLY HEAT & HUMIDITYPUBLISHED: WIRED, UK, JUN 9, 2022 The country’s recent heat wave has seen “wet-bulb” temperatures rise to potentially fatal levels—but plans to handle the crisis are still in their infancy. |  STOPPING A DEADLY VIRUSPUBLISHED: WIRED, UK, SEP 22, 2023: Quick thinking and medical sleuthing allowed Kerala to contain a potentially disastrous Nipah virus outbreak this month—but with viral spillovers happening more frequently, containment is a fragile shield. |  SEEING THE RIVER FOR THE FISHPUBLISHED: SEPTEMBER 2022, THE bioGRAPHIC Scientists and local communities are working to save an iconic Indian fish, but first, they must find it... |
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 REVIVING ANCIENT FRUIT TREESPUBLISHED: BBC, SEPT 2022 India's fruit trees are under threat, but a community of gardeners is using an old trick to save them – and even bring some back from the dead. |  NEONATAL SEPSISTHE NEW THREAT POSED BY SUPERBUGS Published in the BBC: Sept 28,2022 Around the world, an estimated 15% to 24% of all neonatal deaths are due to sepsis. The devastating condition, which can initially look harmless but then quickly deteriorate, is more common in newborns than in any other age group, affecting an estimated three million babies worldwide. Newborns in poorer countries, where access to healthcare and sterile equipment and facilities can be difficult, are particularly at risk... |  LIVING IN AN UNEQUAL WORLD...A coconut seller and a day laborer reflect on life in astoundingly unequal India...the World Inequality report 2022 which tracks global trends in inequality, marks this dichotomy. India is one of the most unequal countries in the world, with rising poverty and yet an affluent elite, the report states... |  INDIA'S HIDDEN FOSSIL WEALTHPUBLISHED: 17 JAN 2022 BBC FUTURE India has some of the most spectacular fossils on the planet, from vast beds of dinosaur eggs to strange prehistoric creatures new to science. But many are just sitting in the ground. |
 STITCHING HOPEPUBLISHED: HAKAI, OCT 2021 In the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami, a simple doll became a powerful symbol of healing in coastal India and beyond. |  THESE 4 COLLEGE FRESHMEN FROM INDIA HAVE A REMARKABLE STORY TO TELL...PUBLISHED: NPR, NOV 6, 2021 It's a school that has earned praise for its extraordinary commitment to enabling its students to succeed... |  INDIA'S NOSTALGIC PASSION...PUBLISHED: SEPTEMBER 28, BBC FUTURE. For some Indian enthusiasts, vintage typewriters aren't outdated pieces of machinery – they're practical and cherished possessions. |  FORCES RESHAPING INDIAPUBLISHED: BBC FUTURE, 16 JUNE 2021 "The grains of sand in a coastal ecosystem are like free spirits. It never stays still. We seldom realise this, but the sand that lies beneath our feet today on any beach is completely different tomorrow..." |
 THE MYSTERIOUS GREAT HEDGEPUBLISHED: BBC FUTURE: THE LOST INDEX, 25 AUG 2021 The natural living barrier was described as "utterly impassable to man or beast", and snaked across India from the Indus River to the Mahanadi. But why doesn't anyone remember it? |  PANDEMIC TOLL ON PREGNANCYPUBLISHED: NPR, April 13, 2021 According to UNICEF data, disruptions of essential health services across South Asia due to COVID-19 may have contributed to 228,000 additional child deaths in 2020... |  DANGEROUS SPICESPUBLISHED: THE GUARDIAN, 24 DECEMBER 2020 Exposure to the heavy metal from spice powders and car batteries is affecting child health across the subcontinent... |  INDIA'S SATI STONESCOMMEMORATE A MACABRE HISTORICAL PRACTICE. PUBLISHED: ATLAS OBSCURA, NOV 2020 “If we paid attention, there are many tales from our past that these stones could tell—for instance, that this was a society that prized virginity and demonized widowhood, that it was beset by frequent wars and unrest, which drove women to take their own lives rather than end up as prisoners of war or victims of rape by a pillaging enemy..." |
 A RADIO STATION FOR FISHERSTHE RADIO STATION AT THE HEART OF A FISHING COMMUNITY PUBLISHED: HAKAI MAGAZINE, JANUARY 2021 The story of how a small radio station in India protects fishers and the eco-system they rely on. |  SAVING INDIA'S ELUSIVE CATPUBLISHED: BBC FUTURE. 19 APRIL 2021 The fishing cat is one of India's most enigmatic predators, hunting the waterways of its remaining wetlands and swamps. The efforts to save it may also help save a vital buffer against climate change. |  THE DEVILISHLY DIFFICULT LOCKS OF DINDUGULPUBLISHED: ATLAS OBSCURA FEB 21, 2020 These unique handcrafted mechanisms are designed to protect homes, confound cashiers, and outthink thieves. |  SAVING A DROWNING ISLANDFEB 3, 2020 PUBLISHED: BBC FUTURE PLANET Vaan Island in India’s Gulf of Mannar has been rapidly disappearing into the Laccadive Sea. But a team of marine biologists is working to save it. |
 HIGH COST OF COVID CAREPUBLISHED: BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL 10 SEPTEMBER 2020 India’s private sector props up its healthcare, but the pandemic has exposed exorbitant and inconsistent billing |  SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN INDIAPUBLISHED: WOMEN'S MEDIA CENTER (WMC) JULY 2020 Instagram Scandal in Delhi’s Elite Schools Complicates India’s Reckoning with Sexual Violence |  50 YEARS OF MIYAWAKI...COULD AKIRA MIYAWAKI’S 50-YEAR-OLD INNOVATION HELP PROMOTE BIODIVERSITY AND REDUCE THE RISK OF CLIMATE CHANGE? PUBLISHED: JUNE 2020, ENSIA, (USA) An innovative approach to growing forests is getting fresh attention from a world seeking to protect species and suck carbon dioxide from the air |  POVERTY IN WHITE TIGERPUBLISHED: JAN 29, 2021, NPR "Do we loathe our masters behind a façade of love, or do we love them behind a façade of loathing?" This is just one of the questions that Balram Halwai, a poor, village-bred Indian boy and the central character of the movie The White Tiger, asks himself as he works as a chauffeur to a rich businessman in Delhi... |
 COCONUT CLIMBERSPUBLISHED: SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (SCMP) PUBLISHED: AUGUST 2020 Like coconut water? Ever wonder who picks the coconuts? Men and women in India climb 80 feet up bare tree trunks to harvest them... |  CAPTIVE PARROTS...PUBLISHED: SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, JUNE 2019 Parrot astrology is a centuries-old custom prevalent in southern India. Parrot astrologers use specially trained parrots to draw cards from a deck, with which they tell their customer’s fortune. But with awareness of animal welfare issues rising in India, the tradition is in jeopardy... |  FROM TRASH TO PLAY...PUBLISHED: CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR MARCH 29, 2021 India trashes 100 million tires a year. She makes them into playgrounds for the underprivileged. |  SAVING PRISONER'S KIDSPUBLISHED: AL JAZEERA, 12 NOV, 2018 Based in southern India, KR Raja works to ensure children who have been essentially orphaned receive support. |
 AI IN EYECAREPUBLISHED: THE GUARDIAN, UK, FEB 8TH, 2019 Built on thousands of retina images, algorithm helps diagnose eye problem caused by diabetes... |  INDIA'S BAREFOOT VILLAGEPUBLISHED: 8 MARCH 2019, BBC TRAVEL In a country where people often go barefoot indoors – considering it a gesture of respect and a nod to hygiene – a village in southern India has taken the practice to a new level. |
 DECODE INDIAN ELECTIONS...PUBLISHED: AL JAZEERA, APRIL 2019. Indian journalist Prannoy Roy, cofounder of the NDTV group, and Dorab R. Sopariwala, its editorial adviser, have spent four decades studying Indian elections... |  INDIA'S COVID ORPHANS...PUBLISHED: JUNE 2021. India's rising numbers of Covid orphans face trauma and trafficking risks... |  INDIA'S SACRED FLOWERSPUBLISHED: BBC.COM FEBRUARY , 2017 Jasmine isn’t just cultivated in Madurai; it’s a way of life, an art form that is inseparable from worship, local lore, ancient and contemporary culture... |
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 WOMEN AND SUICIDEPUBLISHED: Sept 25 2018, NPR Suicide by Women is a Major Public Health Concern in India. As a part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors Study 2016, a group of 30 public health researchers and doctors across India examined and evaluated data from national sources to study the suicide death rates for men and women. Their findings, published in the medical journal Lancet Public Health, brought out some startling revelations... |  WHY DO RAPISTS RAPE?PUBLISHED: NPR's Goats & Soda. Dec 16, 2017. In Interviews with 122 rapists, student pursues not so simple question--why? |  INDIA REFORMS RAPE LAWSPublished: May 4 2018, NPR India is trying to makes its judicial system more efficient — and to set stronger penalties for convicted rapists. New laws have been passed. But there are concerns that these ordinances will be difficult to implement or could even backfire. |
 LIVES OF SALT WORKERSAUG 28, 2017 PUBLISHED: THE WIRE Situated along the Coromandel coast, Thoothukudi is a major port city in Tamil Nadu and home to much of India's salt harvesting terrain. This industry is over a century old in these parts and yet climate change is ushering in unprecedented change... |  SNAKE BUSTERS!THE ATLANTIC CITYLAB, June 22, 2018 In the Indian city of Madurai, a volunteer group deals humanely with emergencies of the reptile kind. |  SOCIAL MEDIA RESCUESPUBLISHED: Aug 22, 2018, NPR Thousands of Indian citizens used mobile phone technology and social media platforms to mobilize relief efforts after severe floods struck the Southern Indian state of Kerala... |
 A JAIN FOOTPRINTFORBES LIFE INDIA JANUARY 2016 Wandering monks once made their home in South India, leaving behind an ancient legacy in the heart of the wild... |  A TOILET IS THE STARPUBLISHED: NPR Romance films don't usually revolve around a toilet. But that's the angle in Toilet: Ek Prem Katha — or Toilet: A Love Story, a Bollywood film starring superstar Akshay Kumar. And the box office has been flush with success. |  A GRAND DAUGHTER'S LOVEOCTOBER 8, 2017 NPR Although she'd never cooked until her early thirties, food was always an integral part of Archana Pidathala's life. The author of the self-published cookbook, Five Morsels of Love, shortlisted earlier this year for the 2017 Art of Eating Prize, cherishes memories of long, languid summers spent at her grandmother's home in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh... |
