What a week!
Well, what a couple of weeks! Let me list all the major events that have happened starting with the 4th July…my birthday, no less! Our power was cut off on the 4th July in the flat we were due to move out of on the 6th July. We had to spend the first night in our new...
Reflections
I am at a cusp. Not here, not there. Not quite starting and not quite being able to finish. It's a good time to reflect, I think.We've been here for six months now. What have I learnt? I've learnt to be slightly more patient. I've learnt that talking nicely to people...
Thank you
I'm not writing anything of any value. I'm not saying anything new, and yet, I've got followers and likes. I'm humbled by the few that follow me and I am sincerely grateful if you have left a comment. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you...your support, even if...
The Goddess in me?
Outside my window there is a kite. Not the kind of kite that is tied by a string, but the kind that is tied by its nature. It circles, it swoops, it glides and it rests and then it begins again. I have no idea if it hopes or if it dreams or if it feels compassion, for...
Iron Man
I've mentioned before that one of the clinching factors for me coming to India was that I would get a maid and potentially never have to cook or wash dishes again, unless I really wanted to! I assumed that included ironing as well, but I didn't dwell on it much. I...
Friendship
I can probably count the number of close, trusted friends I have had in my life, on two hands. Although small in number, their influence on me has been huge, immeasurable. My first friend was that boy, the son of some close family friends, then my cousins. Later, came...
How important is reading to you?
There is a street in Kolkata that I remember visiting when I was a teenager. It's a street lined with books and books and more books. Piles of books, shelves of books, books as stools and tables. For me, it was a paradise. I remember popping into a few of the book...
Kolkata Beggar
Daily Prompt: Silver Linings. Ugly is the beggar I see on the street. The missing limbs, the missing teeth, the missing family. Ugly is the rancid stench from his torn garments and rotting flesh. Ugly are the stares he invites, the silver rupees he collects, the...
Oh, Coconuts!
Before coming to India, I had begun to question my identity. I had always taken for granted that I was British. I love hot buttered scones and a cup of tea with only a drop of milk. I loved Bob Holness on Blockbusters. I know nothing of Bhangra and one of my favourite...
Reality
RealityThe iPad screen flashed images of an annoying little man in sunglasses, dancing to an annoying little song that Swetha had heard too many times over the last six months. Her children had been tampering with YouTube again. She tapped away from the screen and was...
Inspiration
After reading this blog http://spontaneousditties.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/absolute-certainty-and-infinite-confidence/ I was inspired. I was inspired to write again, to put aside my fears about criticism and failure and just write because I love it. My writing is...
Saying goodbye. The simple things.
“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist The Alchemist: one of my favourite books. It taught me to follow the opportunities that are given to us and that love is a much bigger force than...
The Eye Doctor
“To learn to see- to accustom the eye to calmness, to patience, and to allow things to come up to it; to defer judgment, and to acquire the habit of approaching and grasping an individual case from all sides. This is the first preparatory schooling of intellectuality....
Time for change!
After a month in Hyderabad, where the average temperature was around 30-34 degrees celcius, I found Kolkata quite chilly! The temperatures in Kolkata were in their mid 20s and in the night they would drop down to the high teens, but the skies were always blue. They...
Maid to serve?
My life in the UK, like many, consisted of a minutely planned routine, only broken by special occasions, a long weekend or in extreme cases, death! Even weddings are held on the weekend, to avoid disruption to the working week! We did everything ourselves. My husband...
Big Yellow Taxi
Kolkata! The land of Tagore, Trade Unions and Adda. Home of the Ambassador Car, the original 'Big Yellow Taxi' and Bandh. Calcatians are singular creatures; laid back, yet indignant. Everyone is an artiste. I'm not being glib, it's true! Creativity is nourished here...
Happy Times
I mentioned before that I grew up in the UK. To be more precise, I grew up in the concrete paved landscape of Coventry.There’s a derogatory statement people make, siting Coventry: If you’re being ignored, or punished, you’re being ‘sent to Coventry’. I’m not sure...
An introduction is always polite
I was born in India, in a pretty little hill station called Shillong. My parents, however were from different worlds and the time came, when I was about 10, 11 months old, to leave and settle in my mother's world. My father struggled to adjust and reminded me daily,...