The daughter of a friend turned eighteen recently. Well, quite a few kids had their birthdays, and graduations and announced where they were going to college so it has been pretty cool for the last couple of months. A couple even graduated college which is pretty mind blowing. But this eighteenth birthday one is special.…

I’m a city girl, having grown up in Delhi, an Armed Forces brat, and I appreciated nature in manicured lawns edged by kyaris of huge dahlias, gladioli, roses and the occasional bougainvillea. In childhood I had enjoyed mucking around in the mud, I was inordinately fond of climbing trees, and creating elaborate canal systems in…

Once in a very great while, I find myself compelled to go to Costco. Most of even those times, with diligent concentration and a can do attitude, I persevere and find a way to avoid the experience. However, there are those rare occasions when the tides swell, the planets line up, the wolves howl with…

The day after Thanksgiving, I dragged in the red Christmas decoration boxes and detached the girls from their phones, amid strong protests, to force them to have fun with me. After a few eye rolls and threats, they realized they would have to humor me, and helped me unpack the 5.5 foot fake Christmas tree…

Thirteen years ago, this day, I was lying on a hospital bed, my head lower than my torso, in a desperate attempt to keep her in me. This baby who had been conceived with such drama, a surprising pregnancy within three months of restarting treatment after Priya’s birth. I had been on the Mag drip…

I don’t remember holding either of my girls like this, in perfect peace, mind focused solely on the soft wisps of hair ruffled by the tiny askew cap. I don’t remember feeling this effortless love untinged by judgement or anxiety, am I doing this right? This was simple, sublimely pure, the moment of holding the…