Category: Culture
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Seeing Themselves: On Diversity in Children’s Books
Collected in The Smudged Hyphen (2026). “That is not cha-na, its chhan-na.” My 11-year-old daughter born and raised in America corrects the white traveler on television sampling street food somewhere in northern India. Our family is of Indian origin. We speak Tamil and English at home sprinkled liberally with words from Hindi that have made…
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The Mute Button
The night my caste essay went viral, the rage came from a familiar quarter. On naming, the backlash that proved the point, and who decides what comes into the house.
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What the Hands Know
Felix has been refusing his food. The kibble sits in his bowl untouched, so I reach for the treats he likes, the duck rounds. I pick two. They are circular, and they look and feel like cardboard. I have never had duck, so I cannot say, but if I were to eat one I imagine…
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Love Chaos Kin – Trailer
Here’s a peek into what the film offers. Love Chaos Kin Watch More of these on the video archive →
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Essay: Arranged Marriage
Collected in The Smudged Hyphen (2026). This essay appeared in Centered: The magazine of personal stories in 2019. It is an excerpt from my work in progress memoir. Standing in the living room where I rented a room in Jeevan Bima Nagar in Bangalore, I tried to process what was happening. My father declared, “We are coming…
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Crossing Cultures
“How do you open this thing?” Laddu’s cry is plaintive as she wrestles with a miniature Hawkins pressure cooker. I show her how to open and close the cooker. Ammu pipes up “Did you have one growing up?” “Never!” I say. My ferocity surprises me though it shouldn’t. I try to explain to her how…
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Pontificating On Spirituality
Collected in The Smudged Hyphen (2026). It is a blustery morning. I am bundled up as I head for my morning walk. I am glad for the warm wool scarf around my neck that also obscures the wires from the earphone snaking to my pocket. This morning, I choose to start with Venkateshwara Suprabatham. M.S.…
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A Big Fat Multicultural Cauldron
I am on my way back home, slowing to a stop before a turn when the flash of blue startles me. The bird is tiny, a violent blue against the sea of dull greens, browns, and yellows that greet me these days. I track the bird as it disappears into a tree and makes my…
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Human After All
I feel connected, my arms waving with the music, my voice joining in with the chorus of voices that emanates, amplifies and fills the theater. I was at a rehearsal at the Lincoln theater where the Harmony Project choir was preparing for their December finale. I watched David Brown orchestrate a beautiful crowd of people…