I bite into my sandwich and for a moment I feel the texture of the bread in my hands. I notice the sponginess, the pores on the surface, the color of what I eat. I hear the hum of the various electric appliances in the kitchen. It blows my mind, this acute awareness of all…
It is that time of the year when I reflect on what the many years of partnership and marriage mean to me. My relationship with Saathi is a work in progress, one that evolves with time and circumstances. As the both of us navigate middle age and its attendant problems, it is easy to take…
The opening music to the next song on my playlist as I walk is familiar. I know the name I think and open up my music app to find out. I nod to myself as the childish joy of finding a song I enjoy play, spreads through my being. My steps are jaunty, my head…
Last Wednesday, I woke up at an ungodly hour of 3:00 am and got ready quickly to be dropped off at our local airport. I was flying across the country to meet a bunch of my friends, some of whom I last saw when I left high school in 1993. Yeah! I know I am…
In November 2022, I registered for the Taylor Swift Eras Tour tickets presale. I did it on a whim, a wish sent out into the universe. On the 15th, when I managed to actually score tickets, my niece and I had a cry-fest over messages. With her at school and me at work, we supported…
“Can I give you the gift now?” Laddu is making circles around me in the study as I pause the Cdrama I am watching with a reluctant sigh. “You can give it to me on Sunday” I say and hit unpause on the video player. She rolls her eyes before walking out in a huff.…
“Third grade dance group”, “Bus xx group” are few of the active WhatsApp groups on my phone. I scroll through the list and barring a couple of groups that serve as a neighborhood water cooler, the rest are tangentially or directly related to my identity as mom. The messages that get traded here have to…
I stood mindlessly sorting clothes from the bin and, putting them away into six different shelves when it hit me that the most profound changes in my life have been internal. In astro-speak, twelfth house stuff. Even as I mulled over how much mental paradigm shifts have affected my everyday life and interactions, I got…
My middle daughter and I stood by the entrance of the studio where we were for her voice lessons, looking out into the pouring rain. Our car was a short walk away. Mulling over whether to wait for the rain to stop or get wet, I asked her if we should do it kdrama style…
A few days ago, I was in the car with my older girls. I was driving and trying to make conversation. If you have a teen at home, you know these opportunities to talk are precious. Conversation veered to how old they would be twenty years from now and what life would be like then.…
Read more Why Can’t We Talk About The Money? – Adoption Edition
Over the past few weeks, I have been receiving messages asking me for kdrama recs based on how into it I seem at the moment. So, here are the top ten dramas that came to my head when I sat down to write. They are in no particular order and I am sure I am…
“Skipping time” Amma calls out to my prepubescent youngest child who is upstairs talking to a friend over Facetime. I am in the kitchen doing dishes, amused by the interaction. I hear the sound of jumping upstairs as Laddu counts and jumps a hundred times. She is out of breath but rushes proudly to her…
This has been years in the making I guess. This week, I watched passively as a group I am in made plans to organize something. In the past, I would have been eager, loud and passionate about being the architect of such plans. This time, I watched, a little amused, unaffected by what was happening.…
The moon is beautiful, isn’t it ? Instead of “I love you”, Natsume Soseki said “The moon is beautiful”. When the author, Natsume Soseki, was a teacher, he told his student translated “I love you” into Japanese, he just translated it word-for-word, “I love you”. Since Japanese people don’t say that often, he told the…
Read more The Moon Is Beautiful – Romance Is A Bonus Book Review
I woke up to news of my aunt passing. Beyond the first rush of hot tears, my mind went back decades remembering the warm person she was. In the years following my move from Coimbatore to Madras, we (amma, my siblings and I) would pile into an auto and go to Nungambakkam where she lived.…
January – The year started with a bone deep exhaustion from two years and counting of the plague. Winter has never been my favorite season and the cold had me burrowing inward and burying myself in reflections. February – The month started with news of Westland closing and my book rights being reverted to me.…
The show starts with vivid color and a certain sterility as a teenager waits to perform ballet during the COVID years. The mother, our protagonist waits in the car as restrictions prevent anyone from being in the audience. The girl walks off, throwing away her place in the competition and runs away from home to…
Read more Twenty Five, Twenty One – Trip Down Nostalgia Lane
Kumao, I say bowing deeply as I thank Saathi for something. He laughs. Dey, Kha, Saranghae. The words slip easily into conversation. My head is a soup of words in various languages at all times. I gush over the latest show I am watching to a friend and she says “They all look the same…
For some reason my mind went to the December of 1999 when the world was on the cusp of a new millenia. Back then 2020s was the future. I was 24, single and, working for an MNC. I remember the hope I carried in my heart like some flame that could not be put out.…
This week has been one for milestone birthdays, twenty fifth wedding anniversaries and other time markers that has me thinking. People of my age are at a cusp in their lives as they stare at empty nests and retirement in the not so distant future. As I walked around my home this morning striding to…
“Want to see pictures of my crush?” I ask, a goofy smile plastered on my face. My 13-year-old is scandalized. She reluctantly takes my phone and scrolls through the IG feed I show her. She is quiet and after a beat asks me “Are married women allowed to have crushes?” I laugh out loud. She…
Lakshmi Iyer 