Category: Reflections
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Thank You For Coming To My TED Talk
“Thank you for coming to my TED talk!” I almost laugh out loud as my inner voice makes this statement in my head. Most mornings, I am on the elliptical walking at a moderate pace while my thoughts and ideas jump from place to place. One day I imagine my book signing. I let my…
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To The Moon And Back
A few weeks ago, every day on my drive to work and back home, I listened to America commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the first moon landing. NPR aired interviews, held discussions, played audience reactions on-air. I listened in awe as ordinary citizens of this country called in with tales of how they were connected…
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Observer And The Observed
She arrived by the morning train early on Thursday carrying equipment that occupied more than two unwieldy bags. She filmed us setting up the Golu. She was there, a tangible presence as we squabbled, as we debated on the order of the Dasavatharam. She was that silent fly on the wall as we rehashed stories,…
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Hypotheticals
“Amma, can we please let Snowflake free?” Ammu pleads with me, still sleepy-eyed at 6:30 AM in the morning. “After you are back from school,” I say. “But amma, imagine if you were stuck in a box for monnnnnths…” she continues, her angst making her drag out the words. “I am not an elf and…
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Reflections On Relationships
I am on the phone with my cousin. I have it on speaker, tucked into my blouse as I clatter and clang washing dishes. She puts up with the noise and me as we trade notes on our week. I hang up and feel a physical wave of gratitude wash over me for her time…
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Adulting
I walk in the cold morning air cognizant of the fact that Laddu is in her carseat and probably straining to get out. I grab the empty recycle bin and hear a sound that make me whip around. Ammu is visibly sobbing and running toward me. The time is 8:16 AM. We run, the two…
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Unbridled Joy
In the minutes before the clock struck three and the cars would start arriving in our driveway, I prowled the first floor of my home, camera in hand. Just as I thought I would head to the basement and snap pictures of the hastily made decorations, I spied Ammu and Pattu by the window. The…
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India’s Daughter – More questions than answers
India’s Daughter, the documentary that was the eye of a political storm earlier this year showed up on my Netflix selections. I had dithered when it originally was released on YouTube. Crimes against women, rape especially disturbs me deeply. Perhaps, it is the extremely personal nature of the crime or the fact that it is primarily…