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.…
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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…
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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…
The ring lies on the ledge inside the shower stall. I remember to bring it outside when I am done. I wipe it dry and inspect it in the flickering bathroom light. Teal and silver, it is nondescript. I slip it on my finger, it is loose. I slide it into my pocket when dressed…
By instinct, I sip on my coffee and think about the date. I do it every single morning, a way to place myself in the context of the day, date, year construct. My mind reels off the facts, 27th of November, 2022, Sunday. For an instant everything slows as my brain sends off tiny alarms…
As election night concluded and the results trickled in overnight, I refreshed my social media feeds and listened to my They See Blue friends discuss the results. The sense of solidarity and comraderie is something I do not take for granted. We started the evening nervous and bracing for agonizing losses. I woke this morning…
Hot on the heels of the recent Sanjay Subrahmanyan (@sanjaysub) concert in Philadelphia, a friend and I were chatting and she said “He was outstanding! The best I can explain is he makes love with his voice” I nodded heartily and we moved on to other things but I kept going back to her statement…
Each year as National Adoption Awareness Month (NAAM) rolls around, my feed is filled with opinions, thoughts and notes from people connected to adoption in many different ways. In the past I have been vocal about sharing our experiences. Over time, I have grown (hopefully wiser) and have paused to reflect and emphasize the AWARENESS…
I live my life in phases. My social media at any given point is a reflection of the community I seek. So, my timeline, is in a sense the detritus of my past two decades. There are times when I feel an intense desire to wipe it all clean and disappear. I let the impulse…
Early in October, my friend asked me to watch this movie. I said it was impossible that a Kannada movie would screen in theaters near me. I did look it up and it was running at a theater a few miles away. Then, a chance conversation with a neighbor had me at the theater this…
Our lives glide smoothly, seamless on predetermined paths. Occasionally, I pass you in the distance, the tilt of the head, the familiar gait causing my heart to quicken and a smile to appear on my face. Sometimes, I notice a picture on your status and I linger just a moment before I move on. Sometimes,…
Lakshmi Iyer 