I don’t take kindly to photographs. No, I appear better in photos than I do in real life, as an ex-friend once told me. But what I mean is that I am a horrible person to be photographed. I don’t have patience, I am shy, and I have to be ‘in the mood’ to pose. […]
I am a control freak. The idea of not being in control of anything terrifies me. I probably made a lousy manager during my corporate life! Over the course of my life, I have believed that we have a choice in the way we allow our lives to be. I don’t think I have been […]
You can’t see it in that picture. But can you? Look closer. Look closely and you will send one dot of light. That was the sparkle from one little star on the most starry night I have seen in a long while. My friends and I were camping in Nachikuppam, a little village near Krishnagiri […]
I don’t really keep a journal. This blog is all I have. So, when this prompt came up, I didn’t know what to do because I keep giving my memories away to those who are ready to receive them. What can I remember of 10 years ago? I turned to Gmail. And slowly, the mails […]
Chettinad in April was a hot cauldron. The crumbling mansions here belonged to another era. Time had warped a slow dance through this village. As I stepped out of the heritage bungalow of Chettinad Mansion, the air suffocated me immediately with the heat. It was not yet noon. I wilted, but I walked on. I […]
Awareness is a long, painful road. When I started meditating more after my Vipassana retreat last year, awareness was the first step you must embark on. And that’s kind of the first and last step really. There are no more levels of awareness – there are just gradations to it. This year I discovered that… […]
Many years ago, back in 2002, I got my first dog, Bambi. She was a senior dog, almost seven or eight years old, and given away by my English professor in college. I didn’t know what I was thinking when I agreed to adopt Bambi. I don’t think I thought much. I didn’t have any […]
When this prompt came up on my feed, I smiled. A wave of warm memories floated in. The adan calls for prayer. The fragrance of attar. And, the whiff of friendship. It had been more than three years since I met Dave and Karen and Birdy all at the same time. The last time we […]
I am terrified of this word ‘best’. There is a certain finality to that word. I loathe using the word ‘best’ friend. It implies that the other friends are in some way flawed – lesser. I prefer to use the word ‘close’ instead. And if I really need to distinguish that special friend, I just […]