Way back in 1984, Cochin airport was located within the Cochin Naval Base premises. Indian Airlines operated an international flight from Sharjah to Cochin. Very limited facilities were there. The runway was short and the aircraft would come to a very abrupt halt within seconds after touch down. Visitors could line up along the boundary to watch…
The dog is looking at me. His eyes, they seem to see right into my soul. I am not great at prolonged eye contact even with humans. So a dog, a menacing looking black dog that too. Nope not good. 5 minutes before: The kids and I have come to the neighbourhood mall. Its a regular weekday grocery…
Yesterday, Ryan asks me a question that made me stop in my tracks. Ok not exactly stop, because I was driving after school pickup and it wouldn’t have been a good idea. “Amma, why are you so Preoccupied always?” “What?” “Yes preoccupied. You’re always busy with something when I talk to you.” “Well I am…
Now this year, R made the big and painful leap from reading children’s books to books for children which have chapters and minimal pictures. Ok it wasn’t a leap, it’s been a frigging slow drag through each chapter with whines and moans galore. So I asked around for advice. How do you ease this transition?…
He kicked me. Over and over again. Every night, it was the same. I had tried to make things different between us. But he wouldn’t listen. Come morning, and he pretended like it wasn’t his fault. I thought about our initial days together. We had got along so well and in a few months we were…
So we are on our way back from grocery shopping. Which is always the time when the offspring are Least Likeable. I know you thought about that your own kid’s LL moment didn’t cha? They are in their finest cranky, squabbling, kinda-tired but kinda-wanna-run-down-the-road-unattended moods. We get home, where I can finally ignore them in…
I saw you today. And my breath caught. For the longest time I had lost hope of ever seeing you again. When you vanished, my mind knew I shouldn’t dwell on it. Many had warned me this could happen between us. Forget it, I told myself. And move on. But I couldn’t. Some days I…
Now go back in time to say 20 or 30 years. You’re a child again. Do you remember baths? And the ceremonial head wiping afterwards? My mother had a technique. She used to position our heads under her chin, locking us into place and give us a thorough wipe. I wasn’t much of a…
I had the honour of watching Maine Pyaar Kiya, many years ago. I didn’t hear much of the movie’s dialogues or follow much of the plot owing to my older sister’s screams of everlasting love to Salman Khan. So when I saw it appear on my Netflix suggested list, I thought why not, lets give this…
Have you ever had a conversation with your Mom which turned into a full fledged Q&A about gold jewellery? Have you ever marveled at their astounding memory of how much gold changed hands between relatives over the years? I have heard my Mom say things like: “Remember your third cousin from your Dad’s side? We…
There’s a reason why they tell you, you shouldn’t take your kids inside the toilet with you. And it isn’t what you think it might be….. Kids and me are at the mall. We do our usual cool activities at our usual cool haunts. Making new friends, hanging out with old friends and a gourmet…
So Steve and I are flipping pancakes in the kitchen. He sits on his usual place on the kitchen counter, ‘helping’ me out. He pours batter out from a squeezy bottle, oooohs and aaaahs as bubbles appear on the surface of the pancakes as they cook. And then when it is ready to flip em,…
The other day, I spoke to two friends who had never stayed at a hostel before. This was kind of shocking for me. “So like never?”, I asked. “No yaar. Never.“, they replied sadly. “Was it anything like Mallory Towers?”, they enquired hopefully. An image appeared in my mind and I quickly dismissed the image. …
Read the first part here. The priest asked me , “What do you think will happen if you don’t do well in the entrance exam?” Now if you’re born to Asian Parents, well this isn’t really an option. No one really gives you a choice. No one had ever asked me that. I had never…
The year was 1999. I was 16 years old and in the 11th grade. And for the majority of Indian kids who had stumbled into the Science stream like me, this also meant the year that our parents would impose the dreaded entrance coaching classes upon us. One name reigned supreme in Kerala’s entrance coaching world – P.C.Thomas. You had either heard…
And thats the Way I see It.... 