Gayatri received her M.Phil (2012) and PhD (2016) in Sociology from the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her research interests lie in urban informal labour and livelihood patterns with an emphasis on the question of technology, caste and gender. With a focus on political economy, she has published work examining the links between caste, gender and cultures of modernity, working caste lives and popular culture. She has published a book on her doctoral research titled 'Set Adrift; Capitalist Transformations and Community Politics Along Mumbai's Shore published by Oxford University Press (2021).