Category: reflections
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A question of being ready
Sitting in our rather large dining room at our workplace after work yesterday, I found I was the first to arrive for a four hour CPR/AED certification class offered by the American Red Cross and sponsored by our workplace. Soon the rest of the group arrived. A grand total of 7 students and one instructor.…
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Focusing on the one
Lighting the twin oil lamps in front of my makeshift puja cabinet, I lifted my eyes to a plethora of Gods arranged in a random order in the dark cavernous space before me. Lightly touching the entrance to the space and touching my eye, I closed my eyes and prayed. Like I have taken to…
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Bubbles. And life.
Often when watching people blow bubbles I am fascinated. I watch intently as the bubble takes shape almost fervently praying it should be perfect and I heave a sigh of relief when it floats away charming the world around it. I could watch bubbles form and perish for hours on end. Often the thoughts that…
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Integration? What integration?
Reading MM’s post and associated comments made my thoughts go many different ways. I formulated comment upon comment in my mind but realized there was no cogency to my thoughts. Instead of spewing half baked rubbish on her blog, I figured I might as well use this space to put my thoughts out. I agree…
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Changing directions
Every once in a while, I stop what am doing to ponder on that path I am on. To use a metaphor, growing up my family portrait looked like this. Two tall silhouettes and two tiny ones hands linked walking into the sunset. Of course, in my mind’s eye the tiny ones would have my…
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Under the cover of darkness
Settling in comfortably into cushions that were soft and welcoming, I tucked my legs underneath me and hugged a smaller cushion for warmth while taking in the earnest face across me in the dim lit room deep into the night. This Friday night K and I headed out to the lovely UL’s home for dinner…
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I owe you
Walking down the aisle at my workplace, head bent, eyes focused on the eerie back lit glow of the iPhone, I smiled to myself. A bright blue encircled one stood next to my inbox. There are very few times I expect something and it falls in place. Scanning the email quickly I realized how much…
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A peek through my window
Waking up to the sound of the telephone ringing, I sauntered over to the little balcony in our bedroom overlooking the tiny woods in my backyard. The windy morning was beautiful. Yellow leaves floating gracefully to our wet deck. The smell of rain. A fog in the making. I realized with a smile that it…
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Hope and Grief – Twin emotions
A revised version of this essay appears in The Smudged Hyphen (2026). Not suitable if you are looking for something feel good. Folding a humongous pile of clothes my mind wanders in a thousand scattered directions. The muted volume of the TV murmurs in the background. I take pause and notice every detail around me.…
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Come walk a mile in my shoe
Stirring the colorful melange of vegetables simmering on my stove I said something to K only to realize his raptured attention to a Jagjit Singh ghazal playing on TV. It hit me how much I needed people around me to feel what I felt when I felt it. The moment passed and I was tempted…