“I’ll miss you there, Mommy,” he said, with a sad look in his beautiful eyes and with inverted lips which only accentuated his little puffy cheeks. It broke my heart. Why was I doing this, again? To feed my own selfishness? For MY sanity? So I could get more time to work? So I could… Read More Hard Choices
It was two weeks ago yesterday that along with my sisters, I cremated my mother. As feminists who were born to two people who were way ahead of their times in how they chose to raise us, three daughters, conducting all the rituals associated with death including lighting of the funeral pyre was just part… Read More Loss
As parents of multiple kids know, picking your favorite child is an impossible task. It is just not done. Now you may have a favorite kid in your head but you don’t voice that preference out loud. The famous Indian-Canadian comedian, Russell Peters, however, seems to think he has the perfect solution. He rationalizes it… Read More Giving Kids the Space to Fall
Read Part 1 of my tribute to my grandmother here. I start to write this narrative after we put away the clothes. From the corner of my eye, I see her walk around the kitchen and the bedroom attending to minor chores. Soon, I see her with a broom walking into the living room where I… Read More Tribute – Part II
I sit here trying to read SuperFreakanomics and how the U.S. addressed polio, only half concentrating when she asks if I’d like to listen to the radio. The electricity has been turned off by the City, I am fighting mosquitoes and tell her politely that I’ve got music on my cell phone. She pretends not… Read More A Tribute – Part I
Christmas 2016 was our first Christmas as a family of four! When I realized this, I figured, why not write about it for the sake of posterity? Next year, when my kids are almost four and almost two, no matter where, how, and with whom we celebrate our Christmas, we’ll never be able to recreate… Read More Our First Christmas (2016)
We are bursting at the seams. Cliché, yes. My reality, absolutely yes. A developed world/privileged life problem? Couldn’t be truer.
After the balloons have descended, the ball dropped, the confetti cleaned up, and the champagne popped, what remains is just another year – A year that is ours to make what we can of it. 2017 is a year of promise. This year, my little boy turns 3 years old and my baby girl turns… Read More New Year. New Challenges. New Hopes.
1:17 a.m. I open my eyes and turn around to check the time. Silence. The house is quiet and dark. I especially try to listen to any kind of sound coming from my daughter’s room or, what used to be the parents’ bedroom. Nothing. I check her video feed. She is asleep. I fall back asleep.
No, it had nothing (or only a little) to do with the outcome of the elections in the US. The tears were neither of joy nor sorrow. Per se. The tears were of anger, frustration, helplessness, fear, uncertainty, and solidarity. This is a long post.
First a disclaimer: I do not mean for this post to sound pompous or self-righteous. We all have to live by the consequences of our decisions and choices. One such decision I made was to come to the US for graduate studies. Sixteen years later, I call the US my home. Yes, India is also… Read More Raising my kids in the US vs. India