Category: Journal
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COVID-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,…
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COVID-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…
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COVID-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…
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COVID-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…
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COVID-19 Diaries: Reminiscences
Jackfruit. The item remained on our shared grocery list for weeks. Each grocery trip, my finger would hover over it, tempted to strike it off knowing how rare it is to find it locally. Yet, it would stay, a reminder of how random cravings for things from my past can take hold and not let…
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COVID-19 Diaries: Anniversary
Nineteen years is a long time. It is even when you factor in the first few years when you are getting to know the person, the next few years when you are struggling to build a family, the years after that are consumed by nurturing this hard-built family. We have both grown. We have both…
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COVID-19 Diaries: Politics, Race, Children
There is a pain between my shoulder blades that is nagging. It has been a week. I lower myself to the ground so my upper back can find something firm to rest upon. My kaapi is by the side. I snack on cheese curls as I scroll through my feed. Hasan Minhaj’s video has been…
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COVID-19 Diaries: First Lost Tooth
We are all sitting around our dining table. The afternoon sun feels pleasant as it filters through the window even if it is windy and cold outside. The steam swirls and diffuses into the air from the keerai kootu. I serve the children while the husband dutifully mixes the hot rice, ghee, and kootu for…
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The Writing Journey
The messages from my publisher usually are short and to the point. My heart skips a beat each time I see her name pop up on my messages. In February of this year, I had plans. I renewed my passport. I was to apply for a visa. I had a mental map of the places…
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COVID-19 Diaries: Pockets Of Happy
I woke with throbbing pain behind my right eye, the premonition of a raging migraine for later in the day. I powered on, hoping the pain will go away. By mid-day, the light from the screen, the smells from cooking, the sounds of my children happily playing all clashed, clanged and reduced me to tears.…
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COVID-19 Diaries: Schooling Unschooling
It is a day into week three of the five of us at home. This week also marks the start of formal online school for all three children. While I struggled the past two weeks, the knowledge that all of it was optional let me operate a little guilt-free. This week they started easy. About…
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COVID-19 Diaries: Ambivalent
Today caps two full weeks of the entire family staying home. We are settling into a pattern of sorts. If last week felt overwhelming because I was trying to be a conscientious employee and a full-time homemaker, this week was better because I decided perfection is impossible. I let things slide. I told myself it…
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COVID-19 Diaries: The Elephant In The Room
It is almost 6:00 pm. My mind is thinking about what to make for dinner. The IM on my work machine pings. The request is almost always polite, there is an illusion of choice. “I can do it,” I say. I want to be done with it as well. It is well past 7:00 pm…
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YWW: The End
We milled around a small table. Suitcase, backpacks, bulky handbags on the floor around us. I was leaving and trying to hug everyone in my group. I left feeling dazed, not quite sure what I was feeling. The suitcase rattled behind me, its wheels doing overtime as I walked on the cobbled walkways of Stiles…
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YWW: Session II – Day Three
As much as I sound like a broken record, today has been an intense and long day. We did workshop the last set of essays in the morning and had a fascinating discussion on the publishing world after. There were two craft talks. One by Allegra Goodman (who is super good at what she does)…
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YWW Journal: Prep Work
My heart skips a beat each time I see a red marker indicating emails in my account dedicated to writing-related stuff. With approximately 10 days to go before my workshop starts, I have been hearing from the instructors and part of my cohort. We each have been asked to submit a piece of work we…
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Going On Air With The Takeaway On NPR
It started with a simple comment on Facebook. I had shared an interview between a brother and sister on race. This was from The Takeaway on NPR. My friend suggested I should be on it. I pitched the idea that I would like to talk to my twins’ mother about race in the context of…
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Saying grace
I scoop up the fluttering dryer sheets from under the breakfast table quickly trailing it along the edges of the table to remove lint and crayon wrapper bits as I do. I walk past the whirring grinder and open the trash. Pieces of orange paper remind me of the Fall Jamboree I need to pay…