As murky as the origins of Thanksgiving are, I have made it my time of the year to look back on the year that was and be cognizant of the things I am grateful for. A good many are the same year after year. Health, Family, Friends, Food and a home to hold it all […]
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Interview In The Financial Express
Swapna Sanand interviews me for the Financial Express.
Read moreThanksgiving And An Ask
Thanksgiving is around the corner. It is the time of the year when I take stock of the year gone past and process the big and small things that I am grateful for. 2020 has been a strange year. It started with a bang. I was counting on my debut children’s fiction book (Why is […]
Read moreDeepavali Is An Emotion
My feed(s) on social media are filled with Diwali wishes. They feature clay diyas with flickering shadows, bright colored rangoli and mithai boxes. The wishes feel alien, the way it feels when someone wishes me Happy Halloween. These customs are new and strange. As a family we have taken to them, they have grown on […]
Read moreUnsettled
On Saturday, I danced. I never do. This election has had me on edge as nothing has before. In 2016, I was rooting for our first woman President. Trump was a figure in the periphery. Someone whom I did not like based on what I saw. A person who mocked disabled people, eyed women purely […]
Read moreTruth Permits Us Space To Hold Duality
Earlier in October, Carrie Goldman who runs the Portrait of an adoption series on Chicago Now reached out asking if I would like to submit a piece for their 10th anniversary run. I agreed and thought about what I wanted to write given this is National Adoption Awareness Month. The liminal space in adoption is […]
Read moreSitting With The Pain
My eyes are glued to my phone, the screen that is being shared too tiny for me to follow. The voice in my ears is talking about some test strategy. I am there mentally but physically I am in the morning sun, walking home after waving bye to my youngest as she boards her morning […]
Read moreElection Day 2020
It hits me in waves through the day, this notion that we are living through History. This year, this election, this place that America has in the world, it all comes to what happens today and in the weeks following. Four years ago, I was buoyant. I was hopefully that THE glass ceiling will be […]
Read moreNAAM: All About The Awareness
Imagine the feeling of finding you are pregnant, only that it is terror. Terror because you are not sure if you can support the pregnancy. Perhaps, you have no familial support. Perhaps, you do not have that financial safety net that is imperative to bring a child into the world and then see it through […]
Read moreCOVID-19 Diaries: Dilemma
I lace up Laddu’s new hi-top shoes. She tests them out tentatively. I force a fleece jacket on top of her already cozy top. Her school bag is heavy. Her literature anthologies, fundations journals, composition books, iPad, charger, water bottle and lunch box weigh her down. She is ready though, masked, eyes twinkling and raring […]
Read moreCOVID-19 Diaries: Pandemic Pets
I watch as my middle child sneaks furtively into the kitchen and scamper out with a disposable plastic container. I call out to her and she freezes. She hands over the container and refuses to answer my questions on what it was for. I am miffed and curious but not suspicious yet. A little while […]
Read moreCOVID-19 Diaries: Battle Weary
It’s Friday. My oldest is sitting next to me, her earbuds plugged in, her school iPad screen reflected on her glasses. I am amused. She is supposed to working on a diagnostic. I watch her swap screens to youtube and call her out. At this point, I am just weary of trying to keep tabs, […]
Read moreEssay: On Loss and, Love
I talk as I walk to the voice on the other end which is a tad weakened as it traverses the eight thousand miles from India to make its way to me. I strain to listen, filling in missed syllables knowing the words she would have used from our years of association. By the time […]
Read morePersonal Politics
I step out in the predawn light ready for my walk when I spy the sign by the garage entrance. My walk timer is already on. I pause it while I consider where to put the sign up. I skip the lawn or the strip by the pavement even though it would be more visible […]
Read moreCOVID-19 Diaries: Rollback
Late afternoon yesterday, I swapped out the static page I have on my blog from the book landing page to my regular About page. It was bittersweet. From the beginning of the year, I counted down to my book release. I made plans and unmade them. The adrenalin rush between the release on Kindle and […]
Read moreCOVID-19 Diaries: Baking Away The Blues
Earlier this year in May, when COVID had just taken on the pandemic status and we were all bound to our homes, Instagram convinced me that I was missing out on life because I was not baking. Most of my baking over the years has been restricted to one of two recipes I knew off […]
Read moreCOVID-19 Diaries: The Demands of Virtual School
My fingers are almost frost-bitten by the time I am back from my early morning walk. We went from tee shirt weather to winter like cold over a day. The sun is an eerie orange ball on my evening walk. Despite the cold and the bitterness of the wind that swirls around me, these are […]
Read moreCOVID-19 Diaries: Virtual School
It is late Monday morning. It is also a long weekend. I should be cooking, instead I am seated at the breakfast table, two iPads, two dated planners next to me, my Macbook open to a spreadsheet, my iPhone showing me the schedule for the child whose planner I am attempting to fill. I have […]
Read moreCOVID-19 Diaries: Birthdays Are Non-Events
In the hazy blur that is since COVID hit, days run into each other, with no distinction between work and home, rest and action. It is a homogenous, seamless blending of hours demarcated only by the meal hours. We gather around the table two times a day, partake in a meal and go our separate […]
Read moreCOVID-19 Diaries: Back To School 2020 Edition
I woke to a home smelling of coffee and a child already awake and excited. By 6:30 am, Pattu and I set out on a walk around the development. I walked slowly, savoring the chill breeze and the warm sun’s rays. Pattu was clearly thrilled. She jumped, skipped and danced as we wound our way […]
Read more“Sadness Amid Joy”: Lakshmi Iyer’s Middle-Grade Novel Brings New Perspectives to Adoption Literature
When my partner C.C. and I decided we were open to adopting a baby of any race, we dutifully completed each module of our agency’s mandatory online … “Sadness Amid Joy”: Lakshmi Iyer’s Middle-Grade Novel Brings New Perspectives to Adoption Literature
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