I was rummaging through my wardrobe shelves, looking for a charger for my phone, when I found a bunch of old photo albums. I randomly opened one of them, and I smiled as the first photo stared back at me. There I was. Back in 2002, teaching English in an international school in Bangalore with […]
I usually juggle my days between my apartment and my parents’ home in Bangalore. There’s no fixed schedule to this juggling, unlike before the pandemic when I visited my parents only on the weekends. But no matter where I am, I step out in the evening when the heavy weight of the day has settled. […]
It is a typically mild Bangalore morning when I step out for my run. I have been dawdling a bit since I woke up, and I am impatient to ‘get on’ with the day. What this getting on means, I really don’t know. But there’s always somewhere else that I want to be. Something else […]
Regrets are not final. They are redeemable coupons, urging us to look for the good in our self and others. I was in Chennai in November last year. It was a typically hot and humid day when I came across this small outlet tucked away near a corner just behind Besant Nagar’s beach. “Madras Coffee […]
My mother turns 80 today. One of the blessings of this pandemic is that it has brought us closer to what really matters in life. For most of the last decade, I have been living away from my parents – with someone or by myself. Work initiated the move. And then, independence necessitated it further. […]
Whenever I fill up an application form, I am asked about my religion. Officially, I am a Hindu. But at heart, I am a Buddhist. I have been fascinated with Buddhism for the last two decades – not just because the Buddha was an atheist – but because it works so much with death. I […]
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” – Anonymous. When I started my meditation practice today, it was a bit chilly. (By South India’s standards, not Michigan standards). I meditate on the roof, facing a wall. As has been the case over the last month or so, my meditation is all over the place. I […]
Over the last week, at least 6 people have messaged or spoken to me about the restlessness they are going through with this pandemic. Make that 7. I will include myself in that list. As the conversations flowed, over email, text, and phone, I could only offer crumbs of comfort. Cliches. “It will get better.” […]
Someone I knew used to love buying me soap from Kerala. Don’t ask me why. I don’t want to know. Now, it has been months since this person left my life for good. But the other day, before Bangalore’s second lockdown began, I went to my now-desolate apartment to pick up some books. When I […]