Category: Motherhood
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Mom – Primary Identity
“Third grade dance group”, “Bus xx group” are few of the active WhatsApp groups on my phone. I scroll through the list and barring a couple of groups that serve as a neighborhood water cooler, the rest are tangentially or directly related to my identity as mom. The messages that get traded here have to…
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Something In The Rain
My middle daughter and I stood by the entrance of the studio where we were for her voice lessons, looking out into the pouring rain. Our car was a short walk away. Mulling over whether to wait for the rain to stop or get wet, I asked her if we should do it kdrama style…
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Mother. Daughter. Mother.
“Skipping time” Amma calls out to my prepubescent youngest child who is upstairs talking to a friend over Facetime. I am in the kitchen doing dishes, amused by the interaction. I hear the sound of jumping upstairs as Laddu counts and jumps a hundred times. She is out of breath but rushes proudly to her…
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End Of Summer
Today has been a day lived in full cognizance of the passing of time. Each moment together, sweeter because of the change that sets in tomorrow with the beginning of the school year. I put in the effort to make a meal that could be savored as a family. We went out for dinner and…
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Falling Leaves, Change In Pace
Under the glare of lamps in an almost deserted parking lot, our family of five stood in the night breeze, savoring the chill and, watching a beautiful fireworks show. The fireworks capped a lovely day spent shopping for back to school clothes, bags and supplies. As our older children picked out outfits, Saathi and I…
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Parenting From The Sidelines
For a brief few hours last evening, I sat on the porch of a friend’s home chatting, ordering pizzas and watching a group of over ten kids walk to the park, chat and interact with each other. My gangly twins and the stocky youngest fit in seamlessly. They made their own sub groups, congregating and…
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Mother’s Day: Roe v Wade Edition
It is Friday afternoon and my social media feed is already showing Mother’s Day ads and wishes. I am irked, annoyed and sometimes, downright angry. My mother lives with me. I raise three daughters. This Mother’s day feels like it should be a day for all those who are tangentially connected to the act of…
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Tectonic Shifts
This week feels like how I have imagined tectonic shifts will feel. Plates sliding into each other, deep underground, sending ripples that compound out into the ocean, until meter high waves crash on the shore or mountains appear where there were once plains. This week’s shift has been years in the making. It started out…
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On Being A Mother
I waffled a long time before typing in the title. I kept typing parent, erasing, and keying in mother. Eventually, mother won out because this is just my experience and it is tied to being a mother than a parent. What’s the difference you ask? I define the difference in terms of the load I…
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Vestiges Of Innocence
“Mom! mom!!” Her excitement is contagious as she bounds down the stairs, her smile stretching from ear to ear, her eyes wide as saucers. I have my AirPods on as I listen to a masterclass on retrograde planets. I pause the lesson and slow my pace to take in what is happening. “The tooth fairy…