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 […]
What colours can our mind weave? When I think of the word ‘green’, I am reminded of rolling hills, of vistas of green stretching away. I think of the feel of wet grass under my feet many years ago when I was teaching in an international school in Bangalore. But what does green remind me […]
This year marks my first full year without a full-time job. I had been working the grind every single year ever since I graduated back in 2002. 2017 was the year that would test this resolve of mine to be ‘retired’ the most. But here I am. In 2017, I was continually challenged by the […]
The circle is a beautiful shape – a moving continuation of eternity. When I think of the circle, I am reminded of Life itself. I think of all the ways we repeat endlessly our mistakes, our follies, and our beauty. When I think of myself, I think of myself as a circle. There is no […]
This was easy. There are all kinds of families, as Tolstoy once wrote, and I have paraphrased him horribly. My family is one of a kind too. My family is one that doesn’t go out too much together. We don’t really travel together much. We are not even the sort who frequent restaurants together all […]
I have never really been fascinated by the color red. Black has always been my color of choice. My wardrobe is filled with black. My moods are often black. I crave the darkness of the night. But when I think of ‘red’ and I think of 2017, I am reminded of one thing – red […]
A year earlier, I was part of a wonderful Facebook group called ‘Reflections.’ The goal of that group is to encourage sharing through a series of thoughtful and insightful prompts through the month of December. I so enjoyed my prompts last year that I decided to join the challenge this year as well. The first […]