we should be glad, there are sweets

I am living in a small town in Tamil Nadu for the past few months. A Christmas, a mosque festival, and a temple festival have all taken place in these few months. Outside these places of worship and festivity, inevitably, makeshift shops selling local sweets spring up. The most prominent sweet they sell is called …

places peeked at only

There are a few places in the world - in the past - where I truly wanted to live. One was a place in Coimbatore town, I could see it if I walked from my MBA entrance coaching center to my apartment. So it was on the right side of the main road, I mostly …

Sugar and tea and rum

The tiny bowl of sugar cubes was already put out on the table. Kinza noted that the water was starting to boil, she tore open a teabag of the masala chai and let the contents spill into the water, and then repeated the process with a second bag of the tea. She turned off the …

tenacity

Waiting for that palm frond to unfold. I think I have thrown away a bunch of indoor palms before I met this one. This one would have been composted as well, but for the single branch and leaf that you see on its left. It has been months now, maybe a year, this pot has …

something about elephants

I do not remember fully now, it was about completing the conversations. In my head. But unsure why elephants are involved. Dejection with the social life is an infrequent struggle. Should I have called the person? Did I sound very autocratic? The pack of humans, and their elaborate politics is something that I am slightly …

symptoms of distance

Maybe it is a symptom of being away from things, places, people that I grew up, I do not strongly want to get back to those lives already lived, But today I remembered a place, An old house, in slight disrepair, childhood home of a prime minister, Our family - parents, siblings, mother’s brother, and …

ponds

When I am in a vehicle, Moving through the roads, I see gardens, thickly blanketed by small and tall trees, A little pond spread out in front of it all, Hints of a house somewhere in the back of the vegetation, Sepia toned remembrances, Humid air, but not too hot, Sometime in the nineties, True …

how do we justify

the lives we lead

The cake for March!

I couldn’t think of a more clever title and right now we have moved past March when I am writing this. So, here are some pictures of the well received cake, it has oil and no butter, which I lament, but others like it so it’s made every time. I bought a cake stand and …

things I used to read before I had internet

A reference manual on mushrooms A book that detailed how to eat various dishes at a formal dinner, including oysters and soup Manual for beekeeping - how to optimize your hive, collecting honey, different materials for the beekeeper's dress Acupressure(?) - what it is, and how to utilize it Cartoon strips of Spiderman, Peanuts, Denis …