Owning my Happy Birthday
Since that Misty Morning, not much has happened really. The world of pets in Kolkata is a quiet one. Dogs must be kept on a leash and we must walk them away from civilization. At least for the most part. With regards to the rest of my life, well I seem to be edging...
Misty Mornings
I’m not sure if any of you remember Nibbles. Nibbles was the best cat in the world. He was noble, playful and most importantly, a doddle to litter train. He and I had a connection, he was meant to come into our lives and turn it upside down and inside out. I will...
Was away, but hopefully back
Working and writing don't ideally go together. Writing for a magazine seems to be the best possible solution. I'm doing just that. I've missed blogging, and my little space I've created just for me and I feel I should get back to it. The purpose of the...
The Good Wife
My short story featured in Kindle Magazine The Good Wife
Too much, much too much!
I hate religion! Perhaps hate is too strong a word. My father taught me to question everything and my mother taught to me to follow rituals blindly every Thursday in name of the Goddess Laxmi. I grew up with a begrudging respect for the quietude and solace faith can...
The mountains and what they mean…
Have you ever been to Sikkim, in December? What a beautiful place! Beautiful, amazing, wonderful, awe-inspiring. These are words which keep popping into my mind when I think about Gangtok and Lachung. Day 1: The journey from Bagdogra to Gangtok- The roads were long...
More Here Than There?
It's coming up to two years, since we've moved to Calcutta, Kolkata. I still feel like an outsider at times, but an accepted outsider. There are still struggles and tantrums and things that I can never reconcile myself with, but I'm so much better at looking the other...
Back from the Dead, to Work
The thought of writing a post seemed exhausting until now. I've been caught up and run down. It's been a long, long time since I last wrote for myself and I've really missed it! I have exciting news, though: I've only gone and got myself a job! I'm assistant editor...
The Spirit of Things
A tune wafts through the windows and corridors of our building, it glides through the blades of grass outside on the lawns and lingers with the rustle of the leaves of the frangipani and coconut trees.“Sokoli tumar iccha,Iccha-moyee, Tara, tumi.Tomar karma, tumi koro...
Layla and the tea cup
A short story from a collection, I'm calling "Snapshots" , for now. Enjoy!
The Ring
An old story reworked. What would you do, if you were invisible?
The Formlessness of the Mundane
This is why I can't work on the weekends!
The Rains
A short story from my fiction blog. It's been a while. Please have a read, especially if you're in the mood for some romance. 🙂
Love Your Enemies
I've been writing about hope lately, my lack of it or my sudden discovery of. This blogger kind of sums up what I should be feeling, what I wish I could express so succinctly. Have a read...good stuff in all of its true sense.
The Feel of Flying and the Colours in the Sky
Have you ever had that dream? You know, that dream where you’re flying?When I was a child, I used to have it all the time, at least once a week. I would whoosh over my garden and over my neighbour’s fence, dangerously close to the wooden spikes until I would rise...
The Hopelessness of Hope
“In classical Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman on Earth. Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create her, which he did, using water and earth. The gods endowed her with many gifts: Athena clothed her, Aphrodite gave her beauty, Apollo gave her musical ability, and...
Fear Alone, is Death
For more thoughts on writing...
Cutting the Crap
When I was much younger, approaching my teens, at that transitional phase when you realise that the whole world does not revolve around you and that life is not actually very easy, I had at least one memorable conversation with my cousin about the importance of being...
“Parlez-Moi d’Amour”
To Paris… If you have ever visited Paris, inevitably you probably want to visit again. If you have never been…you must! Paris is all about aesthetics. It is about being pleasing to the eye, to the ear and to the tongue. Even the mums in the park oozed style in just...
The Third Kind
Inequality exists everywhere, not more so, than right here in Calcutta. There’s rich and poor, there’s the educated and the not, there’s man and woman. In every walk of life, for every step I take outside of my front door, I am confronted by a different reality where...
Rohinton Mistry-A Master Craftsman
Hands up, anyone who has ever read a book by this man! What did you think? Were you blown away or was it just 'blah' ? I've just recently finished 'A fine balance,' which is a novel set in 1984, in Mumbai. Now, I stay away from writing book reviews, and this isn't...
Memories of England
We’re back in Kolkata now. It’s wonderful to be home, but memories of a lovely time remain. Life is a little simpler in my mother’s house, although a little cramped. It’s a house full of love and affection and emotions that spill out at every opportunity. It’s where I...
Being Back Here
I’m back in Coventry. I hesitate to say I’m back at home, because I’m not sure it is anymore. There’s no angst about it though…just a shift in perspectives. I’m in my parents’ house. We arrived here on the 1st of May and surprised them on their doorstep. They were...
Neighbours
Our neighbour's daughter-in-law has Cancer. They found a lump a few months ago and they decided to cut it out and treat with chemo and all that stuff. I don't know the ins and outs. My neighbour is an old woman and her social skills need working on, but she's nice...
Babu Ghat
Kolkata is such a magical place. It really is. Its meandering pace is just right for me. Oh my goodness, what would I do, who would I be, were I in some bustling metropolis with no time to think of words to place in lines of poetry and prose? On Saturday evening,...
A Shift
I'm not who I used to be. Or I’m more of who I am than I ever was before. Does that make sense? When you’re part of the rat race, when you’re rushing about worrying about how to pay the bills or what time to pick up the children, or what to cook for dinner, when you...
Hello?
Hi.. I'm blogging and stuff but I'm not getting any feedback. I'm getting lots of new followers every day but no one except for treesshrubs (you're awesome, by the way!) is liking my posts! No one's commenting and it's as if I've gone back to square one. Is there...
Faith or Luck or a Way of Mind?
FaithWhat is it? Why is it?I’m going through stuff at home at the moment. It’s best not to elaborate…it’s private! But it’s stuff, nonetheless.I thought I was dealing with it quite well, I thought I could handle the ‘either or’ of the situation but last night I was...
Dear Mr Gove
There is conflict this morning! As my readers know, this blog is essentially about my experiences about moving to Kolkata/Calcutta, from the UK and starting a completely new life, learning a new life, with my family. You may, or may not know, that I used to teach in...
The Palette of Summer | Mission Sharing Knowledge
Long lazy days. I sometimes wonder if I should feel guilty for the how happy doing absolutely nothing, makes me feel. Click on the link below to get an idea of how I feel The Palette of Summer | Mission Sharing Knowledge.
The bump
1990 Tammy watched the little boys zoom across the grey concrete on the playground. They screamed and yelped and made their voices deeper as they stopped, turning and facing their enemies with their fists on their hips. They were superheroes, with their coats buttoned...
There..
Click on the link to read my tiny tale on unboxed writers. Enjoy!
Life
It's nearly 11pm and I am just getting ready for bed. I enter the bathroom and I overhear a conversation coming from my neighbour's flat. It's about the missing Malaysian Airlines flight. It's a topic of interest, of distress, a conversation starter. I know they're...
Food, Glorious Food!
It's been over a year since I've been back to the UK. It's been OK. I've survived but recently I have started craving my favourite foods again; food that can only be found in the hallowed food halls of the United Kingdom, or at least, cannot be found here! A list:...
Holi Hai! | Mission Sharing Knowledge
My first Holi last year, before my days on Wordpress. Thought I would share. 🙂 Holi Hai! | Mission Sharing Knowledge.
Oh, Hurry Up, Whatever You Are!
I'm in one of my 'ambivalent' phases at the moment.I'm waiting for one thing or another. I'm trying to keep myself busy with the kids and reading and research and a bit of writing but it's not ever a permanent fix to the waiting. Yesterday I met up with friends, had a...
Prayer
Scrolling through my "reader" because I cannot sleep, I notice a lot on spirituality and faith and prayer.I'm not an atheist, I don't believe in any organised religion, as such but I do believe in the power of prayer and a being greater than ourselves, with whom, we...
The cusp
quite apt for this page too...
I Hate Goodbyes
I don’t like goodbyes. No one does. I think I handle them a little less well than others around me. If I know there’s a goodbye on the cards, I go into ‘shutdown’ mode. I don’t think my parents have worked that out yet, or at least not both of them. I become harsh,...
The Taste of Rejection
The first thing that caught my attention this morning was this email:Dear D B, Thank you for your submission and for your interest in ******. We have now had a chance to read your opening chapters and I am sorry to say that we don't feel it is something that we can...