What you do today…
“How can you oversleep on first January? You will sleep throughout the year!” I can almost hear my mother shaking me awake today, as I try to grab a few more winks snuggled under my razaai. I…
The joys of blogging
This is my 200th blog post. I started blogging in May this year— egged on by friends and readers on Facebook to compile all that I was posting there in one place. I resisted at first. Then…
The stillness of dawn
I wake up abruptly two hours before my alarm goes off. My tossing and turning wakes up my husband. “Let’s go for a walk,” he says. But the remnants of the previous night’s dinner party are still…
Swimming in the deep
As a swimming pool, it was primitive. But for us kids it was the only solace to beat the temperatures above 45 degrees C in Chanda. There were no blue tiles on its floor to make it look…
Losing yourself
The hospital corridor is long. Sterile and sombre. Doctors wearing long insignia-adorned white coats hurry along. Medical students who are perpetually late for their lectures, scurry, mumbling good mornings to me. Patients walk slowly with their companions…
The witch doctor
There was a buzz down the alley where we lived that summer. The last house in that colony had been rented to a new family. They were Muslim. But that’s not the reason why the adults were…
Dogs and their loyalty
My father was a dog lover. Since the time I can remember, we have always had dogs in the house. He would take very good care of them and they were equally attached to him. German shepherds,…
Finding my triggers
As the years go by, I find that my eagerness to get to the workplace is precipitously on the decline. There used to be a time when I used to be at work at 7 am, sometimes…
Super fragile egos
I am skimming through the cacophonous thread of a Whatsapp group. Everyone seems to be trying to assuage somebody’s feelings or giving long explanations. I scroll upwards to get to the genesis of this acrimonious parley of…
Small towns: Wannabe cities
As the taxi jolts its way through the traffic, I see the landscape change. I am travelling from the capital to Bareilly. Everything around me looks grey, although it is 11 in the morning. The smog-laden air…
