By the window sill

Smiling through nothing more than a snooze after an entire week of exasperating sleep deprivation, I looked at my son, smart in his crisp whites, chin-up and thrilled to be back in school after a long and well-deserved break. Having beat the rush hour, we reached school unexpectedly early that morning and with all room doors still shut and maintenance staff only just trickling in, there was not much else to do but wait. The virtually empty school building worsened the heaviness in my eyes as we... Sign in to see full entry.

Is Love an essential ingredient in all relationships of value? Or is gratitude and/or respect and/or need and/or duty, ample attribute/s to sustain a healthy and close relationship (personal and otherwise)? Sign in to see full entry.

I never know what will bolt out of Space when my little boy is on the watch. Under his visor, this week, was a web page on Neil Armstrong. At school, having covered a short chapter on the astronaut, it so happened that my son’s first internet search on the man, coincidently, presented itself on July 20, exactly 40 years to the day Mr Armstrong first stepped on the surface of the moon. Small step. Beat 1. In the Language part of the same subject, the current topic of exploration is the Articles,... Sign in to see full entry.

It was cold. And rainy. And grey. With the BBC weatherman promising cloud upon cloud for the next three days, spring-time London couldn’t hope to get more Londonesque. To beat it, we couldn’t find a better time to get more ‘un’Londonesque. So while most Londoners travelled away to the respite of holiday lands, we stayed put to enjoy the city-in-respite without the crowds, inching traffic and congestion charge. Destination: Tate Britain. Now before you tense your forehead, let me also add that we... Sign in to see full entry.

In a reversal of roles, the hunter becomes the hunted and clambers up a leafy tree to escape the tiger. Night falls and the tree remains his sole refuge. Fearful and hungry, his restive fingers incessantly pluck leaves off the branches, dropping them below. By day break, the tiger is clearly out of range, so the hunter lowers himself to the ground and spots a heap that the leaves he had been dropping through the night, had made. He also spots that the tree that gave him shelter was a Bilwa tree... Sign in to see full entry.

At a recent gathering, the topic of conversation, inadvertently, settled upon domestic help. Keeping with the season, there was a lot of cricket in the background. Both, subjects that everyone had ample to contribute to. While the men whined about missing crucial cover drives and third eyes, one senior lady went glum just thinking about her predicament at having to endure an in-form-out-of-form-out-of-town kaamwali (Hindi- housemaid). Another friend posed smug at the loyalty her mother enjoyed... Sign in to see full entry.

After waiting for the taxi for half an hour beyond what I comfortably had, the delectable array of characteristics that finally presented itself, was simply too overpowering to question. Sustaining a passive stance was the most stomach-knotting experience I’ve endured recently. Picture this: A whisp, a flick across his forehead, dandelion legs in incarcerating denims, bleach lines across those denims riding right up, and a single long finger nail … painted red. The full effect comes when queried... Sign in to see full entry.

Complete with song, dance and fabulous midnight fireworks, we bought in the new year, even this time, with much frolic and fanfare. Against my own expectations and to the surprise of a few others, the undeniable (thankfully waning) fear set in our consciousness was relegated to an external cache, not particularly sought after. While the DJ unleashed his music and our facial contortions suitably magnified heroic gesticulations, many minds were thinking the same thought: the crowd turnout was far... Sign in to see full entry.

A young boy once spoke of a message to convey I was young myself then - moments held little sway. Days turned to years as seconds melted away. Time danced to tunes of stars in the Milky Way… Life begot life, frowns turned to smiles; creases writ their stay as fortunes walked down aisles. Sunshine spread its golden glow on pastures oh! so green: The moon became a puppet on strings of waves too keen. Tricking and trawling, laughing and toiling grains of sand found their way. There was now, for... Sign in to see full entry.

I walked into a close friend’s family home the other day, to find the kitchen and part of the dining room under siege. Warm and sweet-smelling, the vapours of steaming rice filled my senses, as I stood in the familiar aroma of my favourite South Indian dish. For a quick moment, I tranced back to my first purely Indian meal (it is nothing like what we’ve scoffed in so-called Indian restaurants all over London) on Indian soil by a most welcoming and warm old Indian couple, just about a year ago.... Sign in to see full entry.