When Mondays meant saris… My first job after graduating was as a teacher at Jain International Residential School. There were many other firsts: It was my first time as a teacher. Studying a paper called ‘Teaching English as a Foreign Language’ can in no way prepare you to meet a bunch of raucous 5th graders. […]
“How are you feeling today?” This is probably the most difficult question you can ask me. When I first started therapy about 1.5 years ago, my therapist would ask me this question first, and I would freeze. I didn’t know the ‘correct’ answer. Do you actually respond with what you feel? Because we have been […]
“I just want to be heard!” This is me during most of my therapy sessions. All my life, I have craved this feeling of being held in silence and understanding. My closest friend in life, Travelling Birdy, and I have a long friendship of almost 20 years. Like any other relationship, we have grown and […]
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Many years ago, in 2016, I went on a solo trip to Japan. The country was everything I had imagined it to be – a bustle of contradictions and sweeping contrasts. It was also, expectedly, expensive. And being a vegetarian in Japan was even more expensive. There were two ways I could get vegetarian food […]
The last few days have been trying for me as I watched the light of my life – my mother – hospitalized yet again. It scares me to see her like this, and my heart is restless. As always, I turn to what gives me the most succor: words and, through them, memories. And this […]
“Time is relative.” – A wise philosopher in Chennai told me this a couple of years ago. The quote then was a nonsense, mocking response to a serious question. But here I sit, in 2023, buffeted by stormy winds, blowing skies, and a loose sun, and I thought, let’s revisit that quote, shall we? This […]
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? These last few days have been a cloud, a dank, damp, and heavy cloud. On such days, my workouts help. A fast run or a furious boxing workout. Reading can be a hit-and-miss – when your mind is saturated, it’s more challenging to focus on words and […]
A morning unlike any other. A morning just like any other. Slanting light. And old stubborn sky. Oh, so stubborn. Birds restless and leaves rustling. A cat lounges outside my door, startling from slumber as I step outside. I pause, wondering whether to offer love or its pale ghost called affection. The cat sniffs at […]