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RIP dearest Ammachi (aka Poptain)

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My grandmother was a top ranking student until grade 9, after which her studies were abruptly discontinued & she was married to my grandfather at age 16.  She loved to talk about her keen interest to study, her father and her hometown of Coonoor. Her stories were of a carefree childhood turned into rushed adulthood, when she had to figure out cooking and managing a family. She stayed up a whole night sowing just so she could stitch a dress for my mother (a 2yr old) that she couldn't afford to buy & prove a point. She was a very determined person.  Most of my favourite memories are from when she was still young and able (or should I say extremely capable). She was a very lively person. She loved dogs, and some rather strange pets she had (including a rooster).. she would get her dogs dressed up with sunglasses and a potu at times. She was intelligent, hardworking and did a lot for all of us when she could. She was an amazing host, a great cook and she loved to teach biology
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The Expat life chose me!

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I moved to Fujairah, UAE from Madras, India in the year 1992. I was 5 years old. My first memory of this move, was being reunited with my dad who had moved a little earlier to settle into his new job.  I loved our new home, the new city, the park right around the corner & mainly the fact that we were all together again. Do not recollect missing my school or anyone else! I had all my people with me. This is clearly a great age to move somewhere new 😊  We lived in Fujairah, UAE for a few years -  the most magical years of my life. It was a small town, a small parish & we were so close with all our friends & neighbours. The doors were always open for us kids to hang out & play. It was a time & place where it was safe for kids to get on their bikes and venture out alone. I made sure to be out to play at 4pm sharp every single day & be back at 6pm aka sunset - no permission to stay out beyond that. I'd then wait eagerly for my dad to get back home. My life was p
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Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
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Marriages and KUNG FU

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The two words are synonymous! Let me explain. My husband and I have been married for almost six months now. He is a peace loving soul and would like for us to never ever fight. My reaction to that 'want' apart from some eye rolling is one single 'pfffft'. Now, before I go on, I'd just like to say for myself that I would also love peace, who wouldn't?  Now that we've established that, let me also say that I'm very short tempered. My patience levels are low, and I react. I'm bad at hiding, even for over five minutes how I feel about a situation. SO bad in fact that I don't even need to say a single word. My face says it all! And my husband for one, knows exactly when that expression changes as well (he's a quick learner). He gets upset that I'm upset now and instead of calmly working through the reaction as we should do as full grown adults we panic and say things that have no relevance. We get angry and say hurtful thin
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Romantic comedy, why?

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Have you noticed how the end of every romantic comedy ends making you believe that everyone falls in love in the end somehow.  Suddenly,  two characters in a fictional  movie is 'everyone'. And you would think that considering you are the leading lady in your life this should be your ending too.  The worst part is you can't even blame the storyteller. I mean he/she is showing you the whole picture, so many characters whose roles you will probably fit into..the colleague, the friend, the neighbor who even towards the end is still watching tv, eating popcorn or hooking up with yet another wrong guy which doesn't really show a conclusive end to her tale is still portrayed.. but  is obviously not the part you signed up for in YOUR life right?  Yet, time and time again all you want to do on a depressing night is pop in a rom-com Dvd. Why? a) You repeatedly lead yourself to believe you are still mid-way through your story and your happy ending is c
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Sexual Assault is NOT Ok.

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We live in a society where sex is not an openly discussed subject. Sexual assault is never discussed in a family. In the past few weeks, we have seen a tremendous rise in the social sharing of articles on rape and sexual assault in response to the anger and stirring the Delhi rape incident has caused.  The more I read about sexual crimes around the world and in India I  feel a deep sense of grief for the victims and a deeper sense of anger towards the accused. Today, we are a nation outraged by an incident that is shocking in the brutality of it, the response of our "protectors" & the response of our government to such an incident.  Stop to wonder why this response? To our "protectors" and government this is just one more incident among the numerous sexual assault cases reported, some perhaps more  brutal and gruesome than this crime. It makes me sick to think of the cases that are not recorded, the cases where the woman is blamed, the ca
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Friends - If only for a while.

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In the course of our lives we meet different people. Some become close friends, some acquaintances, some lovers, some well with just no name for the relationship. When I look back, I wonder if there was a point to any of those various relationships that brought in people into my life who today seem nothing more than a distant memory & I've just hit a quarter of a century recently so I'm probably going to meet a lot more people who will be but passing friends. So what is the point of these kind of friendships? Just a bunch of people who are put into your life for no apparent reason? Why am I thinking of this today? Well I get friend requests on FB from people and I remember who they were in my life, note "were" as they no longer are. I look into my existing list and I find more people who "were". Its not that I don't care enough to be in touch or that they were not that significant for me to have them on my whatsapp,chat list or phone
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Too much of anything

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Seems like forever since I wrote. Ironic since I write for work every single day. For some reason a deadline makes anything you love lose its essence. I wonder if a coffee taster savors every sip at work the way every coffee lover does each morning? Does a singer really love to sing the same (popular) song that brought him/her fame every fortnight at concerts? The magic of composing the song is far from the reality of re-singing it like a broken record. I'm the kind of person who, when I fall in love with a song tend to obsess and listen to it over and over till I reach a certain point when I think the song isn't so great after all. I wonder if a career in what you love can make you actually dislike it at some point?  ok lets be practical, any career will make you dislike it at some point ;) The logic makes sense even if we were to put it into a relationship cycle. Boy girl fall madly in love - can't get enough of each other and decide to get married - then they
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Location: United Arab Emirates
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