It’s been more years than I can remember since I played Holi — the festival of colors — celebrated all over India regardless of caste, creed, religion, social status. The festival has strong religious undertones but that doesn’t seem to dissuade Christians and Muslims from celebrating the onset of spring with literally colorful exchanges....
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We were newlyweds at the Lucknow airport checking in for our flight to New Delhi, onwards to San Francisco — we had been assigned seats a couple of rows away from each other, so we requested to be seated together. The agent refused. “You don’t have the same last names,” he said. Wait. What?...
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Note: I apologize in advance if this post offends those who believe in religious fasting. You may find yourself outraged, but please know, I am not attacking your belief system, simply stating my own. There are several reasons why people fast: spiritual, political, therapeutic. In the three decades I’ve been on this planet, I’ve...
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As I lie in bed coughing, battling body ache, and trying to kill that monster playing ping-pong in my head with Advil, I think of mom and dad.Twenty years ago, I’d be smothered with care and affection. Soup, fruit, hot meals, sponge baths, loving fingers caressing my messy hair … needs met before I...
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I remember when I flew to San Francisco from Iowa City the first time in September 2002 — my eyes and mouth remained open the whole time I toured the city. For someone coming from a town where the tallest building is eight stories high and scenery is defined by corn fields spotted with...
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As I mentioned in one of my earlier blog posts, I am surrounded by children under the age of two these days. It also means, being around frenzied, sleep-deprived adults. They’re reading books, visiting sites online, getting (sought or unsought) advice from parents in India, craving time with and away from their kid, consolidating...
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Found this in my e-mail archives. I’d written this opinion piece nine years ago — while I was still in India — and it still rings true, especially because of the rise of social media and our need to be acknowledged online by a mix of real-life friends and complete strangers. We’re more involved...
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The last couple of weeks I have been busy updating the university style guide — you know the readily available, easily accessible booklet that serves as a “dictionary, a spelling reference, and a guide for basic grammar and punctuation”? A handy journal that helps you understand the difference between its and it’s, use and...
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I’ve often wondered during our travels to international destinations why the concept of my country is so important to us. In a networked age where the world has been shrunk to fit into an iPod shuffle, why are we still tied to the notion of our motherland? Isn’t it just by accident of birth...
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It is amazing how much pity I’ve garnered in the last three decades just by virtue of being an only child. From relatives to friends and acquaintances everyone has given me a fair share of sympathetic support. It has been endearing while at the same time amusing to be the object of affection of...
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