Category: Appa
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Daddies near. Daddies far.
I watch fascinated as your eyes glow and your arms wave as you describe the conversation Ammani had using the cucumber as a phone. You are besotted I think. I watch as you patiently clean soiled underwear while your daughter stands oblivious to the mess she is responsible for. I watch as you fold away…
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Memories don’t fade
Yesterday was one of those days when I woke with a heaviness in my heart. The kind you keep to yourself. All day, it lay there subtly beneath the layers without rearing its head. Sitting across my amma, it finally popped out. The untold, unasked questions. Are you feeling sad I asked. Did not think…
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Daddy’s Daughters
“Hugssss!!” “Hugss” repeats Cee endearingly stretching her arms sideways from her high chair. I stand half amused watching K shuttle between the girls dispensing hugs, healing boo-boos and planting kisses on chubby cheeks. Over the past year I have watched K evolve as a father. He is their primary care giver and by that commands…
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Remembering Appa
Driving into work today, I decided to give the earphones a pass and tuned into NPR. There was the news about Libya and then something about predator drones and my mind was weaving in and out, the sound bytes alternatively being loud and fading out. The weather and traffic updates followed. Then was this story…
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In memoriam
Today marks four years to the day since Appa breathed his last. As my mother, sister and I stood around his bedside and watched the monitor mark the end, it also marked the end of an era. A period of my life marked by unconditional, silent love. Today as I grieve the loss of my…
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Smiling faces and warm thoughts
Today’s prompt over at NaBloPoMo: What is the first thing that pops into your mind when you think of your father? His smile. Always. My father had a very pleasant smile. One that would stretch from ear to ear if he was in a particularly genial mood. Sometimes he would scrunch up his nose with…
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Letters from a daughter to her father
Dear Appa, I woke up this morning to the sight of two mottai kutties facing each other across from their cribs and having an animated conversation about who-knows-what. As I plonked them down for their morning feed, Amma held two bottles feeding both kids while I made myself a cup of strong filter coffee. Thoughts of you assailed my…
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Remembering Appa
Late yesterday evening as the closing credits rolled on screen after the movie ended, I was a sobbing blubbery mess. The lines were fuzzy between the body on the funeral pyre on TV and the one of Appa in my mind. That one image was enough to send me back three years in time to…
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Sepia toned. Warm.
Logging into work bright and early, I place my fingers at the feet of the tiny pillayar at my desk and touch it to my eyes. Like I do on days when I feel happy. Or sad. Or in need of reassurance. I turned and spied a new addition to my desk. A picture of…