Rapt In Nameless Reveries

It began on the statistically most unreasonable day of the week - a Tueday. Her coffee machine sputtered, hissed and gave up the will to live. She stared at it for a whole minute before she realized she didn't have the mental bandwidth to care. Somewhere in the background, a child was screaming about a pain in a limb right before homework time and another about fractions, and someone else - possibly herself - was crying. She had 5 children. This meant she hadn't had an uninterrupted thought since the Obama administration.  Still, she tried to take “self-care” seriously. Instagram insisted it was the key to mental stability. So she bought the recommended candle—“Glow From Within”—for $39.99. It claimed to “reset the nervous system and help you Glow From Within”. It did not. But it did briefly mask the scent of garbage waiting to be taken out and despair. Her friends told her she seemed "centered". She was - between a mental breakdown and apathy. Her wellness routine wa...

I have very many fond memories of school and childhood. My school made me everything I am today. I went to a complicated all girls school. It was co-ed till 5th grade. The boys then transferred to the boy's school across the street and then avoided all eye contact with us after that weird transition. People took all modes of transportation to school. People drawn rickshaws, motorized rickshaws, auto rickshaws, vans, public buses and so on. Parent drop off was a rarity, not because our mothers worked, but because parent drop off was not a thing and the traffic that people had to beat to drive miles to get their kids to school that early in the morning was just not worth it. I was one of those kids that lived far away and had my grandpa drop me off  on the way to work every morning. My mom then arranged for a nanny of sorts to pick me up in the afternoon and bring home by public transport. So… school drop off line… Psssh… There is a yellow bus that transports my kids from home to sch...

I am blessed with two wonderful children. Becoming a parent is an eye opening experience in many ways. If you are one of those who are trying to raise a family in a country away from the one you grew up in, away from your natural support system and trying to make sure your children are integrated into the society they are growing up in, you are presented with a new set of challenges and opportunities. The challenges come from not being aware of certain customs, social rules, lunches and so on. The opportunities are what have excited me. It is almost like having a second shot at childhood. They are also largely dependent on the interests of your kids.  Musical instruments - if your kids are interested, then learn an instrument with them; board games - I had no idea how much I loved those; biking - I got myself a bike the moment both of them could ride theirs and we can ride around as a family now; books - the books my children expose me to, being an avid reader myself, I wonder how ...

Joyous as parenting may be, it comes with its own set of "Oh my God! What did I get myself into!" moments. Being a mother to a child in this day and age poses its own set of unique challenges. Women are forced to take on more than they ever did in the years past. You are expected to step it up if you are stay at home mom and you are expected to be a super mom who has it all together if you are a working mom. You cannot win either way! Some of us are blessed with wonderful spouses who can share the burden and make life slightly less stressful for us. Some spouses parent together and some are together because they parent. Either way, the person who was your spouse is your co-parent. No fun there! In most working families, each of us face our own challenges with staying afloat and keeping pace with everything around us. Between ppd, mom guilt, work guilt and everything else that stands in the way of you enjoying yourself, there is one thing that keeps most of us afloat. I c...

There are few moments in life which are so overwhelming that you want to hold on to them for as long as possible, make it your little secret, but at the same time tell the world about it. Giving birth to a baby is one of those moments. Starting from your 37th week when you already start worrying you are going to miss carrying that little being inside you once he is born to crying at the sound of his first cry, I have never felt so many emotions all at the same time. When my little one was brought to me, the first thing I remember thinking before passing out was how alert and calm and composed he was for a newborn just introduced to the world and how very alien like he looked. I have always considered myself restrained as far as emotions go, and when people described the joy of holding their baby in their hands, I would always take it with a pinch of salt. Reality check for me. For the first week, whenever that little wailing ball was brought to me from the nursery, I would immediatel...

As a frequent traveler myself, I have spent many an hour in airports observing and interacting with other travelers. As a child, trains were my primary means of travel and nowhere as inhibitive or scary as airline travel is these days. The only people we met on those trains were usually traveling for pleasure or to meet their families and as far as I remember, traveling and planning for travel was a big deal in those days. It still is for a lot of people. However, new lifestyle and opportunities have redefined how, when and why people travel these days. The first kind of traveler is the age-old "taking a vacation once in a year or two travelling with family and looking hassled at the beginning of the vacation" traveler. This person will probably look a lot more relaxed at the end of the vacation than when he started out. This traveler wants everything to be perfect on the vacation because he planned for it for so long. He has the heaviest baggage and chances are will run in...