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Do You Still Practice Astrology?
“Do you still practice astrology?” I get some version of this question every once in a while and my answer usually is “not anymore” or “no time to do it well”. I enjoy reading charts. I love distilling archetypes from the chart and seeing which parts resonate and those that don’t. The act of reading…
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Happy Birthday, Why is My Skin Brown?
It’s Sunday night and I am catching up on work. As I wait for a batch to finish running, I am looking through my launch day checklist, all the different trackers I have going for the next few days and weeks. If the launch of Why is My Hair Curly? was pure vibes, this feels…
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Who Reaches First
The morning the publicity for my second book began, there was no one to call. On being the one who always reaches, and the wish, just once, to be reached for first.
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My QA Department Works for Boba
I built my three children a game for the summer. Then their friends’ parents started asking for it.
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Prasna: For the Seeker In Me
From the yellow-tinted jadagams of a Chennai childhood to a tool on my own desk that reads both zodiacs: what fifty years with the quality of time built.
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On Becoming a Writer
From the treadmill call that started Why Is My Hair Curly? to the week before Why Is My Skin Brown? launches: on writing from memory, writing toward hope, and the label she finally let herself claim.
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The Twain Shall Meet
Pattu plonks down on the reading cushion I have, conveniently next to a charger, phone already plugged in. Felix whines from the next room. “Ondaa…” Pattu’s instinctive response surprises me. Unless you grew up hearing it, you are not reading it with the tenderness it carries. Ammu shows up every day, 2:00 pm, a grin…
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Who Should Tell These Stories?
We inch our way through the dark aisles of the Movie Tavern, navigating to our assigned seats. This is one of the newer chains near Philadelphia, complete with plush reclining seats and food that is brought to us. My husband, youngest daughter, me, my twins next to each other. We munch on popcorn and sip…
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I Am Really Good At Losing People
When I was little, I lost people because I moved. I moved because my parents moved. Each year, I would start at a new place, a new school, new friends. I became adept at merging, adapting and being a wallflower. I reveled in how well I could be invisible. It was my superpower. Somewhere around…
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Just Adopt!
“I’ve always wanted to adopt,” says my friend, a faraway look in her eyes as if there exists an alternate universe she is privy to that lets her play out her fantasies. My immediate response is indignation. “You have no clue what it is like,” I want to shout. Instead I nod my head and…