To Choose To Live

Featured, Musings

Let me tell you a story. A travel story. In 2003, I was teaching Spoken English in a tiny city called Lianyungang, China.  It was the first time I was in a foreign country. Living by myself. Teaching a language I wasn’t confident speaking. And had narrowly escaped the confines of a Chinese prison. (A story […]

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Day 8: The Positivity Of Strangers


Everyday

Today is a tough day. I had a bit of a rasping cough and more fatigue today. My Mom continues to be better, while Susheela is given another experimental injection.  But. Every now and then, I am astonished at what I receive.  I am going to paste here an exchange that deeply touched me. I […]

April 29, 2021

Day 7: The Positivity Of Trying


Everyday

The chaos of normal living. Do the dishes. Do the laundry. Empty the trash. Clean the table. Dishes. Sink. Clothes. Garbage cans. Dishes. Sink. Clothes. Garbage cans. The certainty of doing the seemingly mundane gives you a strange comfort. Your mind’s one attempt at devising some sense of control in an increasingly uncontrollable world.  Today, […]

April 28, 2021

Day 6: The Positivity Of Survival


Everyday

I struggled with red ants the whole day today while trying to work at my laptop. “What? Work? Now?” you may ask. Well, there are more bills I can count right now than ever, and working is one way to bring in some semblance of normalcy to this world. So, there were ants as well […]

April 27, 2021

Day 5: The Positivity Of Hope


Everyday

I have never been a particularly hopeful person. Years have ground hope into dust. I have never been much of a person to have faith, either. Many more years have bred cynicism, that toxic blend of caustic bitterness and cynicism settling somewhere deep in my soul. India lies marooned in despair. I have aged a […]

April 26, 2021

Day 4: The Positivity Of Generosity


Everyday

For the last two days, I have been observing three roaches, who had congregated on the forgotten dishes in the sink near the kitchen. In the flurry and mess of life over the last three days, I had left a pile in the sink. It’s that mess that attracted these roaches. It’s against my general […]

April 25, 2021

Words For You


Everyday

Hey SM! I know you’re in a very difficult situation but I felt I feel relieved if I share with you. I lost my uncle yesterday as he was suffering from pneumonia. He was healthy ,fit and strong. He was a very disciplined person. He is survived with two daughters of age 21 and 15 […]

April 25, 2021

Day 3: The Positivity Of Beauty


Everyday

The day dawned blue. And then, slowly as the afternoon moved into evening, the blue was enveloped by dark, cool clouds. Then the rain. The wind rustled in, eager to make its own mark. I stood on the terrace, gathering the clothes I had hung out to dry and breathed in. The green. The earth. […]

April 24, 2021

Day 2: The Positivity Of Kindness


Everyday

I write this on a bright, sunny day in Bangalore. My workstation faces a window that looks out on to the road. The Indian Beech is in front of me, its green leaves a startling reminder of life. The Beech is a hardy tree, but it’s in spring and summer that it sheds its flowers, […]

April 23, 2021

The Positivity Of Life


Everyday

Last night, I drove through a deserted under-curfew Bangalore, getting my adopted sister to hospital. At the hospital, I watched a steady stream of people in distress, begging for a bed. For an Intensive Care Unit.  A woman caught my eye and tried to smile. I moved away, trying to get as far away from […]

April 22, 2021