2025 started off great. Mom was with me until the middle of January. We celebrated our neighbor's twins first birthday. After she left, it was kinda hard to get used to not having hot breakfasts served up even before the hunger pangs hit. But I consoled myself saying she'd be back in May. My daughter … Continue reading The Many Things I’m Grateful For
Ferguson. The very word conjures up images of racial discrimination, violence and segregation. Images of black and white. Cops and innocents. Right and wrong. How about Los Angeles some 1800 miles to the west of Ferguson? Same story. Different names but the same drama unfolded in LA. Incidents between police officers and the public have blown … Continue reading A Ray of Hope for Racial Tensions
Now the U.S. is a culinary jungle all by itself and living here for more than a decade has greatly influenced my cooking. As a young bride I focused on making everyday Indian food which was easy, given that I used to help my mom a lot in the kitchen and knew most of the basic … Continue reading My Gastronomic Adventure – Part 2
The other day as I chatted on the phone with my good friend G, with whom I have shared many a happy meal, I was flooded with food memories. Those of you who have seen me or pictures of me, know I have this figure that belies the foodie that I am. And yet food is such … Continue reading My Gastronomic Adventure – Part 1
In the last week of October we drove up to the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. It was a 11-hour drive, mostly on I-95 North. A straight highway with regular cars making their way up North somewhere. Towards the end of day I dozed off for what must have been thirty minutes. I woke up … Continue reading The Hills are Alive…
How some of us take driving for granted! An article in Reader's Digest about a Saudi woman who couldn't drive (like all women in Saudi) got me thinking of the time I couldn't drive. No, I didn't ever set foot in Saudi Arabia. I lived most of my life in India, where my grandma's driver … Continue reading Driving Miss DC…
My four-part travelogue will not be complete without mentioning my wonderful family and the good times we had together. My parents and in-laws live in Chennai and that makes life easy for us...or not! My trip to Chennai in 2011 was spent shunting between the two houses! This time we had a better plan and … Continue reading The Chennai Chronicles – Part 4 (Family and Final Week)
My cousin G's wedding was one of the reasons I really wanted to be in Chennai for the winter holidays. She called me sometime in August when she was fixing the date and the venue and confirmed that the kids and P were off for Christmas/New Year. I assured her that we would make it … Continue reading The Chennai Chronicles – Part 3 (The Wedding)
32 days in Chennai. 32 glorious days. I met many old friends and made several acquaintances. So many that I can't possibly write about every person I met. I just picked a few experiences that I think others would like to read about. But just so you know whether I met someone for 10 minutes … Continue reading The Chennai Chronicles – Part 2 (People and Places)
Count your many blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done... I remember singing this song in school and never really paying attention to the words and the powerful truth hidden in them. The power of gratitude was something alien to me, since I spent most of my … Continue reading Don’t Forget to Count Your Blessings
Punctuate Life 