Category: Love
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#ToAllTheBoysIveLovedBefore
#ToAllTheBoysIveLovedBefore at the high school, I was too busy trying to not cry at being called fat, busy trying to fit in, busy trying to come out of the shadow of my beautiful friends. I was trying hard to stay awake in class after 5:00 AM tuitions and after-school remedial classes. I was too caught…
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A Good Man
I am sending some emails when a new one downloads. Saathi the name reads and my face breaks into a smile. Reflexive, something I cannot control. The subject says, “Your PECO bill” and I almost laugh. In the ten days I have been away from home, I haven’t caught myself thinking about him or the…
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Love In The Times Of Middle Age
Anniversaries have this way of inspiring reflection on who we were, who we are now. Each year as the week of Valentine’s day comes around, Saathi and I talk about the day we met and how we decided in a couple of hours that we were to be partners in life. I don’t think I…
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When I am Gone
She flicks a tear from her cheek, her nervous laugh a cover for unexpected emotion. Pattu reaches out, her fingers lacing themselves through mine. Ammu is on my lap, her neck nestled in the crook of my neck and shoulder. She nuzzles, her cheeks wet with tears. I am overwhelmed. By the tears. By the…
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Crushes and Blushes
Pattu says, “Amma, Ammu has a crush on M.” Ammu blushes a deep red. Then I ask Pattu “Do you still crush on L?” Pattu blushes deep red. Ammu tells Pattu “M is just a friend. Not a crush!” Pattu persists until Ammu relents “His name starts with C” We all take turns guessing until…
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State Of The Union – Sixteen Years
I watch him squint in the twilight, his face looking bare without glasses. “Can you read this?” he holds a tiny molded toy (Tsum Tsum for the initiated). I look at it in turn and give it back. I can barely see anything. “Made in China,” he reads and looks at me expectantly. I stare…
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To The Moon And Back – We Love You
The sun slants in through the open glass of the side door. It feels warm against my face. All three kids surround me. One is convinced her sleeping bag needs a wash. The other two are taking their first delightful steps into the Harry Potter universe. The questions fly thick and fast. I can’t seem…
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Tripping On Memories
I love looking back. I collect memories. I relive the years gone past. I look into old photographs and see past the people in the pictures. I am transported back to slivers of time preserved in my head. These memories, they swirl in my head like in a pensieve, dragging me along into corridors…
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A Rose By Any Other Name
In the past few weeks, my mind has been consumed by thoughts that can only be classified as morbid. Close on the heels of reading “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanidhi and subsequently hearing of the loss of a cousin at a young age, I was driven by a need to distill my thoughts…
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Cards, kisses and a whole lot of love
The house is quiet. The kids are in bed. Saathi is on the highway somewhere returning home from his first ever US Open visit. A few months ago, when he broached the subject of going to watch the Open with friends, I jumped at the idea. He was taken aback. I laughed as I told…