During my childhood, whenever I was given a choice between two things, I always said I wanted both. So much so, my father used to jokingly call me ‘both’ sometimes. Recently, I came across a French painter called Paul Gauguin. It is very rare in the field of art to find a practical and pragmatic painter. […]
It had rained cats and dogs the previous night and the drizzle still had not stopped in the wee hours of the morning. I had to drive 250 km- from my village to the city where I work, after an extended weekend. My home situated in the middle of the fields and has floodlights on […]
The worst part of problem solving is accepting that the problem cannot be solved and that the only sure thing to do is to endure. This has become the reason for the rush-hour induced stress. These days it has become a trend to ‘normalise’ a situation and just like that we have glorified being busy […]
I have worked hard for many things in life, but the thing that I worked the most hard are my problems. Indeed, I have come a long way to face you. Sometimes, I wonder, where were you a while ago? Did you forget me? Those problems that I felt, were my whole life a while […]
The topic might make the author, i.e. me, seem feminist, rather old school feminist. There are many jobs that people think women seem to be better at – like teacher, nurse, human resources related, interior designing etc. There are a number of articles about this too. Mostly the argument given is to present the feminine […]
It was one of my first experiences of a door-to-door survey in the scorching Indian May rural summer. I remember knocking at the door and waiting for a response; waiting so that the canvassing of this last schedule could be completed. An elderly lady opened the small wooden door, asked what we wanted and when […]
Pizhichil is an ancient ayurvedic therapy which has all round benefits to the mind and body. The procedure involves pouring of warm herbal oils that are massaged over the body in a rhythmic fashion for over 45 to 90 minutes. It is basically an oil bath. There are various methods in which this oil is […]
We all have heard of the titles such as King, Queen, Prince, Princess, Sultan etc. If not in real life, at least in fairy tales. I, however, had the opportunity to live in the shadow of a real Sultan. The word ‘Sultan’ has Arabic or Turkish origins and means a leader or ruler. Late His […]
A few years ago, I read a book called ‘Blankets’. As soon as I completed reading it, I knew I could never muster up courage to pick this book up again. It was so full of the pain of growing up. Courage, however, found me, and this weekend I picked up this book once again […]
The angle called Michael Uncle entered my life on my first day in Class 11 in Al Ghubra, Sultanate of Oman. I had shifted schools and it was my first day in my new school. During that first meeting, Michael Uncle appeared to be obese but had a smiling and jovial face. He had a […]
