About me

I was born in Dahanu, India, and moved to the United Kingdom in 2007, when I was six years old. I grew up in Sherborne, in Dorset, England. My heritage language is Gujarati. I am half Malayali and half Gujarati.

My pronouns are he/him.

I am happy to be addressed as 'Mal' ([mal]) or 'Malhaar', which can be pronounced either [malhɑːɹ] or [mʌlhɑːɾ]. I share this name with a raga, which has a legend associated with it.

If you are citing something I wrote or said, I prefer "Malhaar Shah", but "Mal Shah" is also fine.

Outside linguistics

I became vegetarian when I was 17. Some good reasons are discussed here.

When not working on language, I enjoy reading, long-distance running, and playing table-top games. I also love live music. I mostly listen to alternative music, shoegaze, and trip-hop.