To Choose To Live


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 […]

January 25, 2024

When Mondays Meant Saris


Musings

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. […]

June 26, 2023

The Angels In Our Life


Musings, Reading

Where would I be without literature? In 2000, I applied for a Master’s in Mass Communication from Bangalore University. I had graduated in Psychology and Journalism and thought that journalism was my ‘career’ path. We didn’t have career counselors then. My family didn’t really care what I did. đť—ś didn’t care what I did. I […]

May 15, 2023

Meeting Oscar Wilde


Musings, Reading, Travel

My best date ever. 🌹 I have been in love with Oscar Wilde since I read ‘A Picture of Dorian Gray.’ I love the writer’s wit, humor, and brevity that still brims with soul. The novel was considered vulgar for its homosexual overtones and was banned. Wilde anticipated this already with a classic quote from […]

April 18, 2023

Sashaying With Sushi


Everyday, Featured, Mental Health, Musings

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 […]

April 15, 2023

New Beginnings


Everyday, Musings, Travel

Today marks a confluence of New Years.  I love celebrating New Year’s. There was a time in my life when I made it a point to celebrate the New Year in a different country every year. I have seen the New Year ushered in Wadi Rum, Jordan, with a singing bedouin who proposed marriage to […]

April 13, 2023

To Be Slow, My Friend


Musings, Travel

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 […]

April 12, 2023

An Ode To My Valentines


Musings

February is the month of love, isn’t it? That Hallmark-magnetized celebration on February 14th?It’s only fitting that I tell you I celebrate this month with not one Valentine but five.  I am not polyamorous, but these Valentines are my forever corners – I go to bed knowing they have my back.  Meet my Valentines: Voozy […]

February 28, 2023

Rewiring Our Memories


Musings

That’s me at the Thiruvanmiyur beach in Chennai last week. Let me tell you a story about that bench.  Our memories are transitory. They shift and change. And as we grow into them, their character changes. Scientists know that our memories are fallible.  They also know that the brain is hardwired to remember the bad […]

May 14, 2022