Hi, I’m Nikhil!

I have reported from India’s most famous Sufi shrines, marched with 350 religious leaders protesting an oil pipeline in northern Minnesota, traveled across India interviewing dozens of Hindu religious leaders about rising Islamophobia and religious violence, and evaluated the impact of one of Pakistan’s largest welfare programs.

As a community organizer, journalist, researcher, and curator, I am committed to promoting religious pluralism and social justice in South Asia and North America.

My writing and reporting has been published in several outlets, such as Religion News Service, Foreign Policy, Religion Dispatches, and Religion Unplugged, and has been supported by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting and ProPublica. I’ve been quoted and interviewed by publications including BBC World Service, Al Jazeera, Huffington Post, Jewish Currents, and The Wire.

I am currently a freelance consultant for a few different nonprofit organizations, and also a 2023-2025 cohort member of Interfaith America’s Sacred Journey Fellowship. Most recently, I served as Deputy Executive Director of Hindus for Human Rights, and I am an Executive Board Member of Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus. With the Aspen Institute’s Religion & Society Program, I helped launch a national network of civic and faith leaders advancing religious pluralism in the United States. I have conducted quantitative and qualitative research for organizations including the World Bank, Stimson Center, and the University of Washington.

I also curate Voices of Bhakti, a digital archive showcasing translations of South Asian poetry and art on religion, caste, and gender. This project has been supported by organizations such as Interfaith America, Kundiman, and Dhvani India Performing Arts Society of Central Ohio.

As a public speaker, I’ve presented at national and international forums including the 2018, 2021, and 2023 Parliaments of World's Religions. I have served as a guest lecturer for high-school, undergraduate, and graduate classes at several institutions. I’ve also presented my work at academic conferences at Indiana University and the University of Notre Dame. I completed undergraduate and master's degrees in public policy at the University of Chicago.