16th April 2012
I was sitting down to my tea the other day (a revered ritual) when the doorbell rang. I went to answer it and found my frazzled neighbour at the door. She had a couple of hours without her daughters, and was spending it doing her homeowners association work. (See why I shun the homeowners association? I confess; it scares me.)…
9th April 2012
There is an old shoe box that dwells on the top shelf of my closet. It is where paper photographs of my childhood reside. I spent a part of the afternoon sitting cross-legged on the floor of my closet, looking through the contents of the box. There are the photographs that never made it to the digital world for various…
1st April 2012
The ties that bind – the daughter of Burma (For Aung San Suu Kyi) Confined only by the letter, millions breathe your spirit every day. Flying free in the shadow of the gun, keeper, mother, leader of a people you are. But extra-ordinary leader of peoples, how much woman do you have left? Family or Country, Freedom or Persecution,…
27th March 2012
For some reason, people think it’s incredibly romantic when I tell them that my soul belongs to two countries. It’s hard for people to understand that I don’t belong in terms of nationality, either. In terms of nationality, I am all Indian. It’s incredibly difficult to straddle continents the way I do, for when I am in one country my…
17th March 2012
Sometime ago someone I barely knew asked me what I did for a living, and I replied that I was a writer. She looked sceptical and informed me that I couldn’t call myself a writer unless I’d been published. She then pointedly asked me if I was, indeed, published. Instead of chastising her for her rudeness, I told her that…
8th March 2012
There’s been so much noise in my life lately. I don’t mean actual noise – that’s not something you get a lot of when you live alone with two cats. Cats are restful creatures, which is one of the most awesome things about them. I guess I mean that there’s been a lot of written noise in my life, and…
27th February 2012
His name was Aditya. When I spoke to him, that’s the name I used. Aditya, the sun. He was my sunshine, for the few months that I knew him. He gave me hope for a future that I never thought I would have, and that is now uncertain. When he died, it was all I could do to not crawl…
18th February 2012
I admit it: I adore Top Gear. I’ve always loved cars (I’m convinced that this is genetic, and that I inherited it from my grandfather and my mother), and the combination that is James May, Jeremy Clarkson, and Richard Hammond was clearly made in automobile heaven. So I was thrilled when I heard (late last year) that they were…
14th February 2012
Cupido Cruciator In that ‘blest Elysian ground’ which Virgil describes (where the saddened lovers are shaded by myrtle), the heroines are conducting their rites, each one with some sign of the death she died. They wander about in a dank forest with an ominous light. Reeds and poppies grow in the stagnant ponds and silent streams. Flowers of evil thrive in…
14th February 2012
As I’m single for Valentine’s Day this year, and as I possess a healthy disrespect for the holiday no matter what my current romantic status, I thought I’d do things a little differently and write a greeting for my ex-boyfriends. So, here it is. Roses are red, Violets are blue, I’d rather be single, than be with you.