Not that she had much of a choice — Several years ago, I had employed a young girl from Orissa as a cook in my home. Let’s call her Sundari. Sundari means pretty girl. Her beauty came more from her unassuming and smiling countenance than sharp features of any kind. She had a kind and friendly face. Years later…

Some of our best ideas are lost because we do not journal them at once — Most of us started out as writers because we have something to say, about almost everything. But one of our greatest fears is that one day we will run out of ideas. I have that fear too. Strangely, that fear is reducing as I fill books and other places with…

It involves doing — Once upon a time, there was nothing. Nada. A big void. What was the void doing? Nothing. We should have just let it be. Or not. I don’t know. Some people belong to the ‘do something’ camp. Some people propagate ‘don’t do it if it isn’t perfect.’ …

All this talk is making me tipsy — Introduction As all loyal Medium writers know, Medium recently introduced a feature to enable writers to ask for tips on their posts. Many alert writers saw the feature, figured out how to enable it, and had their ‘Tip Me’ signatures up and running in no time. Those smart alecs. …

Always looking over our shoulders Plagued by self-doubt Look — she seems to have it all together Poise, grace, calm And her — she is unruffled Her kids are doing great That woman — always so well turned out How does she do that?? A job, home, a social life…

It was great to have people over after two years — Every year, August is special because it brings with it the Varamahalakshmi festival. It is my favoritest festival. Why? Because mom and dad used to celebrate it in a very grand way. I’ve grown up being super involved in this festival and having streams of friends and relatives coming home…

Or they were born respectful, or both Consider this short conversation in Kannada. Vanaja: ನಾನು ಇಂದು ಕಿರಣ್ ಅವರನ್ನು ಭೇಟಿಯಾದೆ (I met Kiran today) Kumar: ಓಹ್, ಅವರು ಏನು ಹೇಳಿದರು? (Oh, what did they say?) Vanaja: ಅವರು ನಾಳೆ ಮನೆಗೆ ಬರುವುದಾಗಿ ಹೇಳಿದರು (They said they will come home tomorrow) Kumar: ಆಹ್, ಕೊನೆಗು ನಾನು…

MuddyUm’s funniest for July and one bonus from elsewhere — July has seen a fair share of bizarre news reports — pretty much like any other month the world over. But one news item caught my fancy. Don’t ask me why. A sheep has been sentenced to 3 years in prison for killing a woman. What’s more — the owner…

Anger makes us say and do horrible things — 7:15 am. The house is silent while the kitchen machinery hums gently preparing food for the kid to take to school. The only sounds are the excited twittering of neighborhood birds. They are always so excited about the dawn of a new day! 7:16 am. The peaceful morning ends with…