Category: Work
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Featuring: Varsha Creative Studio
Today’s post is a departure from my usual posts. My niece Varsha, all of fifteen years is a budding entrepreneur and I have been watching her grow and come into her own. Obviously, as an aunt I am biased and I am proud of this child. I asked her if she would like to share…
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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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Unsung Heroes: The Woman In My Life
“Vandhacha?” I text my sister. The message says delivered but there is no response. I put my phone down and walk around the house. I clear the sink, I grind the coconut, green chiles, curry leaves, and cumin. I check my phone every once in a while. It is when I am tempering cumin in…
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An Average Day
“Take a picture” I beg Saathi as I scramble to get out of the house. He looks at the lamp above and declares it will not be a good picture. He takes one anyway and it is bad. I grab my phone, collect my folder, new bag, water bottle and get into the car. I…
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Milestone: Re-entering Workforce
My iWatch shows I have about 4K steps to my self imposed goal of 10K steps a day. I walk around the house as lightning glows outside. A peal of thunder is enough to shake me from my reverie. I look outside and the weeds that have taken over my front yard irk me. A…
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Deconstructing Self Worth
I sit between two women at the tae kwon do class my twins are at. We trade smiles each time one of us turn toward another. We are tentative, jabbing, probing with our eyes, ears and spidey senses to see if there will be a connection. We have forty minutes to kill. Our younger ones…
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Finding Passion
“I have to work,” I say unselfconsciously and shut the study door behind me. For weeks now, I have been logging in, answering emails, pursuing writers, cold calling people who are inspirational to come write for us. The actual work of writing emails, talking on the phone, fiddling around with the site layout, editing…
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Journey. Not a destination.
In the semi darkness as I rocked laddu to sleep, my mind played back a phone conversation from earlier in the day. “Do you plan to go back to work?” asked a friend. “Probably. Just not sure when” I answered then. The conversation shifted to other things but I kept revisiting my answer that just…
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Wrapping up
Emails. Folders. Badges. Tokens. I had them all cleared, lined up and ready to return. As I shut the laptop with a satisfied click, I realized it marked the end of one period in my life and the start of another. Each eventful in its own right. Laddu on my hip, I turned my attention…
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A year in review
Sometime this week a year ago, I traded in my full-time job for something more flexible. A stay at home, work at my pace kind of compromise. The past year has been rewarding and in some ways been reshaping my views on financial independence. The first few months were heady. I did not miss the…